Italian
oil and gas major Eni, the parent company of Nigeria Agip Oil Company, is being
probed over suspected corruption linked to the acquisition of Oil Prospecting
Licence (OPL) 245 in Nigeria for over a billion dollars.
A Milan
prosecutor is probing the role of Claudio Descalzi, Eni’s chief executive
officer (CEO), his predecessor and another Eni executives over their role in
the Italian group’s acquisition, in partnership with Shell, of the rights to
OPL 245.
The
prosecutors recently opened a probe into alleged corruption relating to the
acquisition of the offshore oil block in 2011 by Eni and Shell. Last year,
British police began investigating a money-laundering allegation in connection
with the same field.
Eni
has however denied that there was illegal conduct on the acquisition of
