Shell, Eni trial delayed to June

MILAN, May 14, 2018 – An Italian court resumed a corruption trial of Shell and Eni executives on Monday with a procedural hearing before readjourning until June.

When the case resumes June 20, the court said it would hear requests from third parties to join the case. A number of international non-profits have requested to participate in the trial, which centres around bribery allegations related to the sale of the OPL 245 block offshore Nigeria.

A lawyer for the government also announced he was stepping down, saying the mandate had become “awkward,” Reuters reported.

In January 2017, a Nigerian court had transferred assets and operations in OPL 245, owned by Eni and Shell and operated by Eni, back to the government in relation to the bribery case. Eni and Shell subsequently initiated separate legal procedures to have the forfeiture declared void and succeeded.

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