An Italian appeal court on Thursday overturned the jail sentences of Emeka Obi, a Nigerian and Gianluca Di Nardo, an Italian, who were initially convicted in a case related to the controversial sale of Oil Prospecting License (OPL) 245, an oil field reputed to be one of Africa’s biggest, worth about $1.3 billion.
Emeka Obi and Gianluca Di Nardo were sentenced to four years in prison for their complicity in a bribery scandal linked to the sale of Oil Prospecting License (OPL) 245 in 2011 after both men initially claiming they helped mediate negotiations between multinationals oil companies Royal Dutch Shell Plc, Eni SpA, and ex-Nigerian petroleum minister, Dan Etete.
Reuters reports that in a decision taken behind closed doors but read out to reporters afterwards, three judges quashed the convictions and said there was no case to answer.
The prosecution itself had asked for the sentences to be overturned after a court in March Italian court acquitted Shell, Eni and other defendants of corruption charges in the oil deal.
The three judges on Thursday also lifted orders seizing assets worth $98.4 million from Obi and more than $23 million from Di Nardo.
Roberto Pisano, Obi’s lawyer, referred to the original conviction as “an unjust sentence by the court of first instance conditioned by a macroscopic violation of the law.”
Both Obi and Di Nardo, accused of being middlemen and taking illegal kickbacks, had asked for a separate fast-track trial which, under Italian law, allows sentences to be cut by a third.
The deal dates back to 2011 when Royal Dutch Shell and Eni paid $1.3 billion to purchase an offshore oil field (OPL 245) from Malabu Oil and Gas, a company in which Dan Etete, former petroleum minister, held majority shares.
It is alleged that about $1.1 billion was siphoned off to politicians and middlemen.
Both Shell and Eni have strongly denied that they knew of any corruption linked to the deal, and have said they don’t think bribes were paid at all.
Nigeria’s OPL 245 is one of the biggest sources of untapped oil reserves on the African continent with reserves estimated at 9 billion barrels.
Eni, the biggest foreign oil producer in Africa, has been doing business in Nigeria since 1962 and last year produced 131,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day. The company has a stake in a total of 32 mining leases, and is the operator in 10 of these.
Shell is Nigeria’s biggest oil producer, accounting for around 40percent of the West African country’s total crude and condensate output capacity of 2.2 million bpd. In 2020, Shell’s oil and natural gas liquids production in Nigeria amounted to roughly 48.6 million barrels.
Last week, Italy’s justice ministry ordered an inquiry into the conduct of two OPL 245 prosecutors for allegedly hiding vital evidence.
