- Nigeria's government says it has filed a $1.1B lawsuit against Royal Dutch Shell (LON:RDSa) (RDS.A, RDS.B) and Eni (NYSE:E) in a commercial court in London in a complaint related to the 2011 OPL 245 oilfield deal.
- OPL 245 also is at the heart of an ongoing corruption trial in Italy, where prosecutors allege ~$1.1B in bribes were paid to win the license to explore the field which, because of disputes, has never entered into production.
- Nigeria claims funds supposedly paid to the government "were in fact immediately paid through to a company controlled by Dan Etete, formerly the Nigerian minister of petroleum, and used for, amongst other things, bribes and kickbacks."
- Shell says "the 2011 settlement of long-standing legal disputes related to OPL 245 was a fully legal transaction with Eni and the Federal Government of Nigeria, represented by the most senior officials of the relevant ministries."
- Nigeria already has filed a London case against JPMorgan Chase (NYSE:JPM) for its role in transferring more than $800M of government funds to Etete, who has been convicted of money laundering.
- Now read: Royal Dutch Shell: Takeaways From Q3 Earnings
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