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Two Italian district attorneys founded guilty for concealing files in Eni-Shell Nigeria trial

An Italian court sentenced on Tuesday 2 Milan district attorneys to 8 months in prison for stopping working to file documents that would have supported energy group Eni's position in a worldwide corruption case.

Eni, Shell, and all the offenders were nevertheless acquitted by a court in Milan in March 2021 in what came to be called the industry's greatest corruption case, which focused on the $1.3 billion acquisition of a Nigerian oilfield a years earlier.

Judges in a court in the northern city of Brescia ruled that Milan prosecutors Fabio De Pasquale and Sergio Spadaro had actually a. legal commitment to submit documents that might have assisted the. defence group because trial.

The Brescia court has jurisdiction over judges and. district attorneys in the neighboring city of Milan.

The Milan court that acquitted all the offenders in the Eni. Shell trial criticised the method the district attorneys had carried out. their work, saying they had failed to submit amongst the trial. files a video shot by a former Eni external attorney, which. they stated was relevant to the case.

The Brescia court issued the eight-month sentence that had. been requested by prosecutors who stated De Pasquale and Spadaro. had actually hidden elements in favour of the defendants in the Eni-Shell. trial, infringing their rights.

A legal representative for the two men had asked the court for a full. acquittal, arguing there was no rule that immediately and. directly needed district attorneys to file documents in a trial. The. legal representative had no immediate comment on the conviction.

The federal government and the interior ministry, which are accountable. to pay possible damages, had actually also called for the prosecutors'. acquittal.

(source: Reuters)