Anti-corruption groups HEDA, Re:Common and Corner House have welcomed the appeals lodged by the Milan Prosecutor and the Nigerian government against the acquittal of Shell, Eni and 13 other defendants for alleged corruption in the acquisition of the giant OPL 245 oil field in Nigeria.

The defendants, who all denied the charges, were accused of paying $1.1 billion in bribes to Nigerian politicians and kickbacks to company executives. In March 2021, after a trial lasting two years, a court in Milan dismissed all the charges on the grounds that there was no case to answer. Although the Milan judges hypothesize that corrupt dealings may have taken place, they argue that the oil companies and other defendants were not involved and that any illegality was a matter for the Nigerian, not Italian, courts.

The appeals by the Milan Prosecutor and the Nigerian government were reported yesterday by Italian newspaper Il Fatto. The newspaper quoted the Milan Prosecutor as describing the acquittal judgment as “thin and illogical.”

Shell and Eni responded to the news by saying they would study the reasons for the appeals and denying any illegality on their part.

“Our own analysis suggests that the Milan judgment was deeply flawed,” said Lanre Suraju of HEDA. “At times, the judges’ reasoning borders on fantasy. The lazy racism stereotype that suggests that any corruption in the deal was restricted to Nigerians and Nigeria cannot be allowed to let Western defendants off the hook.”

“The OPL 245 case has put the Italian judicial system on trial,” comments Antonio Tricarico of Re:Common. “The Appeal is the opening salvo in a battle for the soul of the Italian judiciary and Italy’s standing in the international anti-corruption community.

“The judges bent over backwards to give the companies the benefit of the doubt, distorting or ignoring vital contradictory evidence,” says Nicholas Hildyard of The Corner House. “This bias needs to be investigated.”