Nigeria charges oil giants with corruption in $1.1 billion deal

JOHANNESBURG — Nigeria has filed criminal charges of corruption against oil multinationals Royal Dutch Shell and Eni over the $1.1 billion sale of one of Africa’s richest oil blocs.

Both companies have denied any wrongdoing.

Charges filed at the High Court in Nigeria’s capital, Abuja, allege the companies paid $801 million to former Oil Minister Dan Etete, former Justice Minister Mohammed Bello Adoke and businessman Aliyu Abubakar for the license to OPL 245. Nigeria’s government got only $210 million from the deal.

“These charges show Nigeria’s intention to fight corruption by holding the powerful to account,” Simon Taylor of corruption watchdog Global Witness said in a statement Saturday. “The days when oil companies could use their influence to keep backroom deals with corrupt officials under wraps are over.”

Nigerian High Court papers stamped Thursday and seen by The Associated Press name the accused as the Nigeria subsidiary of British-Dutch Shell and its ex-director Ralph Wetzels, Italy’s Eni, Eni’s Nigeria subsidiary Agip and directors Roberto Casula, Stefano Pujatti and Sebastiano Burrafato.

Also charged is Malabu Oil, the company Etete set up secretly and awarded OPL 245 while he was oil minister.

Etete, Adoke and Abubakar, all believed to be living in Europe, could not be reached for comment.

The charges were laid by Nigeria’s Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, which in January won a court order ceding control of the oil bloc to the government.

The commission also has filed new money-laundering charges against Adoke, alleging he corruptly received an additional $2.2 million in 2013 as payment for brokering the deal.

The oil companies have declared their innocence, saying the money was paid to Nigeria’s government. Shell and Eni paid $1.1 billion into a Nigerian escrow account at the London branch of JPMorgan Chase in 2011. Adoke, who was then the justice minister and attorney general, authorized its distribution.