OPL 245 scam: Nigeria can prosecute oil giants — HEDA

President Muhammadu Buhari was yesterday charged to continue the prosecution of oil giants involved in the multi-billion naira OPL 245 scam.

Foremost anticorruption group, Human and Environmental Development Agenda (HEDA Resource Centre), stated this in relation to the request by the oil giants that prosecuting them locally is not necessary as the trial in Italy should substitute for and annul any other possible legal action in

Nigeria.

Daily Trust reports that Shell and Eni have been dragged to court in Milan, Italy over alleged cases of corruption in relation to the OPL 245

In a letter addressed to President Buhari, HEDA’s Chairman, Mr Olanrewaju Suraju, said the trial in Milan, Italy should not foreclose the oil giants facing charges of breach of Nigerian laws where applicable.

On March 26 this year, global anti-corruption network, Global Witness, HEDA, Re:Common and The

Corner House had written to President Buhari, urging his country to ensure the oil companies do not escape the claws of the law.

But in a recent release, Eni said it should not be prosecuted in Nigeria for alleged corruption in the OPL 245 deal because Nigeria “had specifically chosen the court in Milan, as the qualified and entitled venue” to bring the case against the company.

But HEDA in the letter said, “Nigeria is not a satellite country of Italy. Eni’s request is arrant nonsense. Nigeria had no say in the Milan prosecutor’s decision to prosecute Eni, Shell and others. This was a choice solely for the Italian authorities. It was only once the trial had started that Nigeria was able to intervene as a civil party. As Eni knows full well, a civil party is not the same as a prosecutor.

“Mr President, this is a shameful manipulation of the facts. The case against Eni in Nigeria is already being heard: it is not a “new” case. Eni, as a defendant, must know this. Why then is the company seeking to pull the wool over the eyes of the Nigerian public?”