Shell, Eni face fresh wrongdoing allegations

Shell was forced to put out a statement on Monday in response to fresh accusations of wrongdoing in relation to the acquisition of the OPL 245 Block offshore Nigeria.

On Sunday, BuzzFeed and Italian daily Il Sole 24 Ore alleged that Shell, in the run up to acquiring the block in 2011, was aware that the USD 1.1-billion payment would end up with former Minister of Petroleum Resources and convicted money launderer Dan Etete, and that he would likely use it for bribes.

On Monday, Global Witness and Finance Uncovered published a similar report containing, among other information, e-mail exchanges between top Shell executives that lend credit to the accusation that Shell en Eni entered into a deal for OPL 245, knowing it would result in a bribery scheme.

In its Shell Knew expose, Global Witness further alleged that CEO Ben van Beurden told then CFO Simon Henry not to “volunteer any information that is not requested” to the Dutch police attached to a Dutch-Italian investigation that raided Shell’s The Hague office in February 2016.

“Given this matter is currently under investigation, it would be inappropriate to comment on specifics. However, based on our review of the Prosecutor of Milan’s file and all of the information and facts available to Shell, we do not believe that there is a basis to prosecute Shell. Furthermore, we are not aware of any evidence to support a case against any former or current Shell employee,” Shell said in a statement on Monday, adding that if bribes indeed had been paid, “it is Shell’s position that none of those payments were made with its knowledge, authorisation or on its behalf.”

Eni has yet to comment in detail, but did point to inaccurate statements and mischaracterizations of the record, including, for example, your [Global Witness’] description of the structure of the acquisition OPL 245.”

“None of the contracts relating to the 2011 transaction was executed secretly or designed to ‘hide’ any party’s transaction,” Eni added.