The Nigerian oilfield sold to Eni and Royal Dutch Shell was legally “perfect” and corruption free, the lawyer representing former embattled Nigerian minister for petroleum resources, Dan Etete said yesterday.

The lawyer, Antonio Secci, also told a Milan court that the prosecutors in the case had been unable to show exactly what role Etete played in the alleged corruption of Nigerian public officials – if he had corrupted politicians or had simply been an intermediary between the two majors and the Abuja government.

Eni and Shell acquired the offshore OLP 245 field in 2011 for about $1.3 billion from Malabu, a company owned by the former Nigerian oil minister. Prosecutors allege that about $1.1 billion of that money was siphoned off to politicians and middlemen, half of it to Etete himself.

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Source: OrientEnergyReview