Dutch government probes Shell over Malabu oil deal
Shell Oil Company, has been dragged into a corruption probe
linked to a major offshore deal in Nigeria (OPL 245 -Malabu Oil controversy), the company confirmed on Wednesday.
"We can confirm that representatives of the Dutch
Financial Intelligence and Investigation Service, FIOD and the Dutch Public
Prosecutor recently visited Shell at its headquarters in The Hague," a
spokesman said.
"The visit was related to OPL 245, an offshore block in
Nigeria that was the subject of a series of long-standing disputes with the
Federal Government of Nigeria. Shell is cooperating with the authorities and is
looking into the allegations, which it takes seriously."
Italian daily Corriere della Sera reported earlier that the
Dutch investigators were working in collaboration with Italian prosecutors
looking into Shell and Italian energy group ENI's 2011 acquisition of joint
exploitation rights to OPL245, which is estimated to contain up to nine billion
barrels of crude.
Prosecutors in Milan have been investigating ENI executives
involved in the deal since 2014.
Under the licensing accord, ENI made a payment to the
Nigerian government of $1.09 billion to secure joint ownership while Shell,
which already owned a 40-percent stake, handed over $200 million.
Most of this money was subsequently passed on to Malabu Oil
and Gas, a company believed to be controlled by Chief Dan Etete, a former
Nigerian Oil Minister.
In an episode that has come to be regarded as emblematic of
Nigeria's problems with corruption, Etete had awarded the rights to the block
to Malabu in 1998, at a time when he was close to Nigeria's then-military
dictator General Sani Abacha.
The probe into ENI was triggered after an intermediary in
the deal, Emeka Obi, sued Malabu in Britain's High Court and won an order that
the company pay him $110 million in unpaid fees.
ENI has always maintained that its actions in Nigeria have
been beyond reproach and that all the money it had paid in Nigeria had gone
directly to the government.
Shell also insisted it had not been involved in any
wrongdoing. "Shell attaches the greatest importance to business
integrity," a spokesman said.
"It's one of our core values and is a central tenet of
the principles that govern the way we do business. All employees are expected
to uphold these principles and failure to do so will result in consequences up
to and including dismissal."
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