Corruption: Eni acquitted, oil not. The lesson from the OPL245 affair

Eni acquitted at first instance in the trial for the alleged maxi-bribe in Nigeria. But it is a confirmation that no future can be built on oil

There is no point in beating around the bush, Eni's acquittal in the first instance on Wednesday 17 March in the OPL 245 case hurts us greatly. Because for us, critical shareholders of Fondazione Finanza Etica, the ingredients were all there. The evil multinational that wants to extract oil in Africa. An astronomical sum, around 1 billion dollars, which ends up in the pockets of a political elite and is taken away from the education, healthcare and economic development of a poor country. The accusation of international corruption for what would have been the largest bribe ever ended up in court.

OPL 245, the process that could make Eni and Shell stocks dance is underway

The two oil giants in the dock for the 1.1 billion bribe paid to Nigeria to win one of the largest offshore fields in the world

After three years of trial and 74 hearings, the judges of the Milan court took away our pastries just when the party could have started. Eni, Shell and the thirteen defendants were acquitted because "the fact does not exist". For the reasons we will have to wait for the summer. In the meantime, however, we can draw some conclusions, which remain valid regardless of the outcome of the trial.

Fondazione Finanza Etica and the uncomfortable questions to Eni (since 2008)

Fondazione Finanza Etica has presented itself at the Eni shareholders' meeting every year since 2008, together with Re:Common, one of the three organizations that started the investigation into the Nigerian case. Every year we submit dozens of questions to the company that the main shareholder, the Italian State (with 30%), prefers not to ask. Except in rare exceptions, such as at the time of Mucchetti (PD) presidency of the Senate industry commission (2013-2018).

From 2008 to today, thanks to our obstinacy, numerous cases of alleged international corruption have occurred in the assembly, of which the Nigerian one is only the latest and most relevant. Eni was not always acquitted.

In 2010 he chose to settle a fine of 365 million dollars with the American authorities. In addition to a two-year suspended sentence for the corruption of Snamprogetti - then under the control of Eni - in the Bonny Island scandal, also in Nigeria.

Another request for a plea was filed on March 18 in the investigation into the renewal of some mining licenses in Congo. After the prosecutors downgraded the crime from international corruption to undue inducement.

As shareholders we have the duty to question Eni on all cases of alleged corruption of which we are aware: the company's reputation is at stake, but also its financial health. Because the proceedings can be accompanied by heavy sanctions, as clearly seen in the case of Bonny Island, or requests for compensation for hundreds of millions of euros.

That link between corruption and oil

Eni is not the only oil company to end up in the sights of prosecutors. The entire extractive industry is at risk: as revealed by an OECD study, one in five cases of international corruption is associated, in the world, with oil and gas extraction and mining activities in general. One more reason, in addition to climate protection, to insist on the exit of large energy companies from fossil fuels. In 2020 Eni presented a very ambitious decarbonisation plan, which however starts with the handbrake on and envisages an increase, rather than a decrease, in oil and gas production until 2025. With an average growth of 3.5% per year.

The damage to the environment

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As we have seen, every barrel of oil extracted is accompanied by high risks of corruption and equally high risks for the environment. For this reason, regardless of the recent ruling on the Nigerian case, our opinion on Eni remains unchanged. Like the one on the sector in which it operates and intends to continue operating.

No future can be built on oil, neither for the environment nor for a more equitable global society. As rightly pointed out by Stefano Feltri in the newspaper Domani regarding the OPL245 case, the Milan court excluded the corrupt nature of the payments from Eni and Shell, but it cannot be disputed that a large part of the money actually ended up in the pockets of Nigerian politicians rather than in Nigeria's public coffers. A billion dollars that could have been allocated to a population of which 51% today lives in extreme poverty. And who earns less than $1.90 a day. The judges ruled that the payment was legitimate. We will continue to argue that it wasn't right.