A Milan preliminary hearings judge on Friday acquitted former Italian energy giant ENI chief Paolo Scaroni and ENI in connection with alleged bribes paid by its Saipem unit to Algerian officials. The same judge sent Saipem and six other defendants to trial for suspected corruption. Earlier this year Milan prosecutors requested that Scaroni, ENI's former CEO, be sent to trial along with seven other people over alleged bribes of $198 million paid to former Algerian Energy Minister Chekib Khelil and his entourage to win seven big oil contracts worth over eight million euros for ENI's Saipem subsidiary. The former head of electricity group ENEL, Scaroni, 68, was ENI chief from 2005 to 2014. The documents presented with the indictment request included the wiretap of a January 2013 conversation between Scaroni and former Italian industry minister Corrado Passera. In that conversation, Scaroni allegedly said that bribes of some sort were paid to Algerian politicians, while adding that he did not know who.
Also acquitted on Friday was former ENI executive Antonio Vella, who was responsible for North Africa.
ENI and Saipem were investigated under a law on corporations' responsibility for crimes committed by their employees.
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