Police search ENI office over false plot (4)

(ANSA) - Milan, February 6 - Police on Tuesday searched the offices of ENI former legal chief and current manager Massimo Mantovani in a probe into an allegedly fake probe aimed at foiling kickbacks probes involving the fuels giant and Nigeria and Algeria. Mantovani is under investigation for a conspiracy to commit a number of crimes, judicial sources said.
    ENI stressed that it was not itself under investigation and urged the judiciary to clear up the matter.
    It issued a statement saying "we trust in the correctness of our managements's actions".
    Earlier Tuesday, in a related case, a magistrate was among 15 people arrested in a probe into two alleged criminal associations devoted to tax fraud, crimes against the public administration and corruption in judicial processes.
    Former Siracusa prosecutor Giancarlo Longo is accused of being a "public official who sold off his role".
    Lawyer Piero Amara and businessmen Fabrizio Centofanti and Enzo Bigotti are also implicated in the case. Riccardo Virgilio, a retired official of top administrative court the Council of State, is under investigation too, the sources said.
    Among other things, Longo is suspected of concocting a false probe into an alleged plan to destabilise fuels group ENI along with Amara, who was one of the petrochemicals giant's lawyers.
    The aim of the fake probe was to derail an investigation into alleged Nigerian and Algerian kickbacks allegedly involving ENI CEO Claudio Descalzi, judicial sources said.
    Mantovani is accused of aiding and abetting Amara, judicial sources said.
    photo: Descalzi