ENI case prosecutors omitted key evidence says judge

(ANSA) - ROME, NOV 21 - Two Milan prosecutors who were convicted for failing to file documents that were in favour of the defence in the high-profile Eni/Shell-Nigeria corruption case only used evidence that could benefit their case, leaving out all data that could have contributed to the defendants' acquittal, Judge Roberto Spanò wrote in the motivation of the sentence published on Thursday. A court in Brescia chaired by Spanò last month handed an eight-month suspended sentence to Milan State attorneys Fabio De Pasquale and Sergio Spadaro on charges of refusal to perform a duty for failing to file documents that were in favour of the defence in the Eni/Shell-Nigeria corruption case that ended with the acquittal of all defendants.
    The State attorneys "only used what could benefit their thesis" in terms of evidence, "surgically omitting harmful data" for their case which had been brought to their attention, wrote Spanò in the motivation of the sentence.
    Such facts are "particularly grave", said the motivation.
    The court in Brescia chaired by Spanò last month 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.
    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.
    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).