Shell Says Netherlands Plans Criminal Charges Over Nigeria Deal--Update
March 01 2019 - 8:43AM
Dow Jones News
By Christopher Alessi
LONDON -- Royal Dutch Shell PLC is expected to face prosecution
in the Netherlands on criminal charges connected to a 2011 Nigerian
oil deal, the company said Friday, the latest twist in one of the
oil industry's biggest bribery scandals.
The Anglo-Dutch oil giant said in a short statement that the
Dutch public prosecutor's office was preparing to prosecute the
company for charges "directly or indirectly" connected to a 2011
oil tender.
The Dutch Public Prosecution Service said that it had concluded
through its investigation of Shell that there were prosecutable
offenses. "We are not yet able to make any announcements about the
further course of the case at the moment," a spokeswoman for the
prosecution service said.
The likely prosecution stems from a $1.3 billion deal jointly
made by Shell and Italian rival Eni SpA to develop an oil field in
the waters off Nigeria's coast. The companies had acquired the
field, known as OPL245, from a company owned by former Nigerian oil
minister Dan Etete. The deal quickly fell apart and the field
remains undeveloped.
Shell and Eni have denied wrongdoing in previous cases related
to the deal.
Shell declined to comment beyond its statement on the expected
Dutch case. In a statement Friday, Eni said it isn't under
investigation by Dutch authorities and continues to deny all
wrongdoing in connection with the 2011 deal.
The move by Dutch prosecutors comes on the heels of an ongoing
corruption case against Shell and Eni being brought by Italian
prosecutors related to the OPL245 deal. Italian officials alleged
that Eni Chief Executive Claudio Descalzi and the other executives
at both Shell and state-backed Eni knew most of the $1.3 billion
the companies paid to the Nigerian government to acquire the
drilling rights for OPL245 would be distributed as bribes.
Italian prosecutors also said , the Nigerian president at the
time of the deal, received part of the kickbacks. Mr. Jonathan has
denied involvement.
--Goodluck Jonathan
Shell and Eni denied wrongdoing in relation to allegations made
in the Italian trial.
In December, as part of the continuing trial, a Milan judge
stated that Shell and Eni were "fully aware" that part of their
payments for the oil tender would be used for kickbacks to Nigerian
politicians and officials. Prosecutors had alleged that around $1.1
billion of the $1.3 billion paid for the oil field was distributed
to agents and middlemen.
The Italian judge's statement came three months after the court
found two middlemen -- Nigerian Emeka Obi and Italian Gianluca Di
Nardo -- guilty of international corruption in a connected case,
sentencing them to four-year prison sentences.
The companies have also faced potential legal challenges in
Nigeria, where the country's financial crimes watchdog has
threatened to strip the companies of their claim to the oil
field.
Write to Christopher Alessi at christopher.alessi@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
March 01, 2019 08:28 ET (13:28 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2019 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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