ENI case prosecutors omitted key evidence says judge

Two Milan prosecutors who were
convicted for failing to file documents that were in favour of
the defence in the high-profile Eni/Shell-Nigeria corruption
case only used evidence that could benefit their case, leaving
out all data that could have contributed to the defendants'
acquittal, Judge Roberto Spanò wrote in the motivation of the
sentence published on Thursday.
A court in Brescia chaired by Spanò last month handed an
eight-month suspended sentence to Milan State attorneys Fabio De
Pasquale and Sergio Spadaro on charges of refusal to perform a
duty for failing to file documents that were in favour of the
defence in the Eni/Shell-Nigeria corruption case that ended with
the acquittal of all defendants.

   
The State attorneys "only used what could benefit their thesis"
in terms of evidence, "surgically omitting harmful data" for
their case which had been brought to their attention, wrote
Spanò in the motivation of the sentence.

   
Such facts are "particularly grave", said the motivation.

   
The court in Brescia chaired by Spanò last month handed an
eight-month suspended sentence to Milan prosecutors Fabio De
Pasquale and Sergio Spadaro on charges of refusal to perform a
duty for failing to file documents that were allegedly in favour
of the defence in the Eni/Shell-Nigeria corruption case that
ended with the acquittal of all defendants.

   
Brescia has jurisdiction over magistrates in the nearby city of
Milan.

   
The Brescia judges ruled that De Pascale and Spadaro as State
attorneys had a legal obligation to present all documents during
the trial, including those that could have helped the defence's
case and had infringed the defendants' rights by failing to
provide them.

   
Oil giants ENI and Shell and all defendants were acquitted in
March 2021 by a tribunal in Milan over allegations of corruption
in Nigeria.

   
The long-running case focused on the 1.3-billion dollar purchase
of an offshore oil block in 2011 in which prosecutors had
claimed the majority of the money was used to bribe Nigerian
officials.

   
However, the court in Milan said the two companies and 13
defendants, who were executives at the two firms, had no case to
answer.

   

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