Materials in a suitcase seized nearly three years ago by Swiss
authorities may unlock the identities of the Nigerian recipients of the
$1.1billion in corrupt payments by Shell and ENI over the purchase of
OPL 245 from Malabu Oil.
A Geneva prosecutor is now reviewing the
materials and will decide what can be shared with Italian authorities,
where some trials have begun in the monumental bribery scandal.
The prosecutor received the green light after Switzerland’s top court,
the Federal Tribunal, rejected an appeal by Nigerian defendant Emeka Obi
to prevent his bag from being unsealed. The Lausanne court’s Nov. 8
ruling, published online, said that the confiscated material – including
documents, an external hard drive, British and African passports, and
USB keys – could have “potential pertinence” in the criminal
investigation and the sealing could be lifted without violating Swiss
law.
“The Geneva prosecutor now has access to all the material
in conformity with the Federal Tribunal ruling,” it said in a reply to
Reuters. He will select the material to be handed over, it said.
Under Swiss law, privileged information cannot be shared in
international judicial assistance in criminal matters and the
prosecutor’s choice of documents can be appealed. Obi’s Geneva lawyers,
Paul Gully-Hart and Charles Goumaz told Reuters that they were
cooperating with the prosecutor’s office.
“With respect to the
ongoing proceedings in Switzerland, regarding the suitcase of our
client, we can confirm that no decision has yet been taken in respect of
the transmission of any of its contents to the Italian authorities,”
they said in a statement. “Our client has maintained his innocence in
regards to the various allegations made by the Milan prosecutors and is
confident that the final evaluation of the contents of his bag will
confirm this.
“Our position remains, as it has always been from
the beginning, that the only material that should even be considered for
transmission to the Italians must be strictly limited to non-protected
material that is directly related to our client’s involvement in the OPL
245 transaction,” they added. An Italian judge said on Monday that Eni
and Shell were fully aware their 2011 purchase of a Nigerian oilfield
would result in corrupt payments to Nigerian politicians and officials.
Eni
and Shell bought the OPL 245 offshore field for about $1.3 billion in a
deal that spawned one of the industry’s largest corruption scandals. It
is alleged that about $1.1 billion of the total was siphoned to agents
and middlemen. The Milan judge made the comment in her written reasons
for the September conviction of Obi and Italian Gianluca Di Nardo, both
middlemen in the OPL 245 deal, for corruption. The pair was jailed for
four years.
Obi and Di Nardo have been tried separately from Eni
and Shell, which also face corruption allegations over the same deal in
a hearing that is expected to drag on for months. Eni has denied any
wrongdoing. Shell said on Monday that neither Obi nor Di Nardo had
worked for Shell, and that there was no basis to convict it or any of
its former staff of alleged offences related to the deal.
Obi
brought the Swiss case to keep the contents of the bag seized in Geneva
in April 2016 from being shared with foreign authorities. Its
confiscation led the Geneva prosecutor to open a criminal case for
suspected corruption of foreign officials and money-laundering.
Days
later, Italian authorities requested judicial assistance, arguing that
the suitcase and its contents had been deliberately stashed in Geneva,
the Swiss ruling said. Italy’s proceedings targeted 13 defendants and
two companies suspected of corruption activities from 2009 and 2014
linked to acquiring prospecting rights in Africa, it said.
Source:- Vanguardngr
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