Prosecutors convicted for 'hiding' Eni-Nigeria documents

(ANSA) - ROME, OCT 8 - A court in Brescia on Tuesday 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. The court was chaired by Judge Roberto Spanò.
    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.
    Defence attorneys for the magistrates had requested a full acquittal, claiming no rule directly required State attorneys to present the documents.
    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. (ANSA).