The Dutch Public Prosecution Service waives prosecution of Shell for bribery in Nigeria. The criminal case is dropped because prosecution is no longer legally possible. That is the result of the withdrawal this week of an appeal by the Italian Attorney General.
Not only Shell, but also its Italian counterpart ENI will be definitively exonerated. At the beginning of last year, a lower Italian court had already ruled that claims against Shell and Eni and some directors were unfounded.
According to the Public Prosecution Service further prosecution in the Netherlands is impossible because the companies ‘have been irrevocably acquitted’ by a criminal court. A suspect may, according to the ne bis in idemprinciple, not to be brought before a judge and tried again for the same.
Shell says in a response that it welcomes the acquittal. “Today’s decision underlines what we have long maintained that there was no case against Shell or its former employees and that they should never have been charged.” According to the group, this ends “seven years of suffering” for the four employees involved.
It questionable game around the most coveted oil field in Africa
Shell and Eni are not quite done with the matter yet. The current Nigerian government wants to enforce financial compensation in civil proceedings. Shell and Eni jointly paid 1.3 billion dollars in 2011 for the exploitation rights for the OPL245 oil field off the coast of Nigeria.
The suspicion of large-scale corruption arose because the then Nigerian government is said to have channeled most of the proceeds to a company owned by a controversial former oil minister. Only 200 million of the $1.3 billion would have ended up in the state coffers. Shell, Eni and the accused directors have always denied that they acted culpably.
Disappointed
Anti-corruption organizations that filed a complaint against Shell and Eni are disappointed with the decision of the Public Prosecution Service. According to lawyers for the organizations, those involved are avoiding prosecution due to the Italian acquittal, while the Dutch Public Prosecution Service wanted to continue the prosecution. The organizations involved, the Nigerian HEDA, the Italian Re:Common and Global Witness and Corner House from the United Kingdom, are investigating whether there are other possibilities to take the oil companies to court.
The Dutch Public Prosecutor’s Office has been cooperating with the Italian prosecutor’s investigation since 2016. In the context of this case, the tax investigation service FIOD raided Shell’s head office in The Hague six years ago.
A version of this article also appeared in the newspaper of July 23, 2022
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