Shell Discloses End of U.S. Bribery Probe Into Nigerian Oil Deal
October 04 2019 - 1:46PM
Dow Jones News
By Dylan Tokar
The U.S. Department of Justice has closed its investigation into
Royal Dutch Shell PLC's involvement in a 2011 deal for an offshore
oil block in Nigeria, the oil company said Friday.
Shell said it believed the Justice Department's decision to drop
the inquiry into the company's involvement in the oil block OPL 245
transaction was based on the facts available to prosecutors, as
well as continuing legal proceedings in Europe.
"The U.S. Department of Justice (DoJ) has notified us that it
has closed its inquiry into Shell in relation to OPL 245," a Shell
spokesman said in a statement. "We understand that this is based on
the facts available to the DoJ, including ongoing legal proceedings
in Europe."
Shell's statement was reported by Reuters on Wednesday.
The $1.3 billion deal Shell and Italian oil company Eni SpA
struck with Nigeria in 2011 has been the focus of legal proceedings
in Milan.
Italian prosecutors have said Eni CEO Claudio Descalzi and other
executives at both Shell and Eni knew most of the $1.3 billion the
companies paid to the Nigerian government to acquire the drilling
rights would be distributed as bribes.
"We maintain that the 2011 settlement of longstanding legal
disputes related to OPL 245 was a fully legal transaction and,
based on our review of the Prosecutor of Milan's file and all of
the information and facts available to us, we do not believe that
there is a basis to convict Shell or any of its former employees in
Milan," the Shell spokesman said.
Eni on Tuesday said the Justice Department had closed its probe
into the company in relation to the Nigerian oil block.
Shell was among six companies that agreed to pay a combined $236
million in 2010 to settle bribery allegations spanning Nigeria,
Brazil, Azerbaijan, Russia, Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan and
Angola.
Write to Dylan Tokar at dylan.tokar@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
October 04, 2019 13:31 ET (17:31 GMT)
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