A subsidiary of Italian energy giant ENI and five managers will go before a judge in Milan over charges of bribery in Nigeria, legal sources told AFP Wednesday.
A Milan judge has decided that Saipem, controlled by the gas and oil group ENI, and five managers involved in the case will go on trial on April 5, the sources said. ENI was not available for comment.
Milan’s prosecutors office opened a probe in 2009 into alleged bribes paid by the TSKJ consortium from 1994-2004 in exchange for several contracts to build liquefied natural gas facilities on Bonny Island in Nigeria.
The consortium, a joint venture including French oil field services firm Technip and the US construction firm KBR, is under investigation in several countries over alleged bribes for contracts worth more than $6 billion.
According to the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), TSKJ funnelled more than 180 million dollars in bribes to Nigerian government officials.
ENI agreed to pay multi-million dollar fines to US authorities in July but did not admit or deny the SEC’s allegations.
The SEC alleged senior sales executives at the joint venture companies formed a “cultural committee” to consider how to implement and hide the bribery scheme through sham contracts with subcontractors or vendors.