MILAN, June 24 (Reuters) - An Italian appeals court on
Thursday overturned jail sentences handed down to Nigerian Emeka
Obi and Italian Gianluca Di Nardo for their part in a graft case
involving Eni and Shell in Nigeria.
In a decision taken behind closed doors but read out to
reporters afterwards, the three judges quashed the convictions
and said there was no case to answer.
The prosecution itself had asked for the sentences to be
overturned after a court in March acquitted the two energy
groups in a long-running case revolving around the acquisition
of a Nigerian oilfield for about $1.3 billion.
The judges dismissed the charges against the companies and
defendants saying there was no case to answer.
Obi and Di Nardo, both accused of being middlemen and taking
illegal kickbacks, were convicted in a fast-track trial back in
2018 separate from the main one. They were both sentenced to
four years in jail, but had not started to serve them.
Under Italian law a fast-track trial, which is based only on
documents with no hearings or witnesses, allows sentences to be
cut by a third.
"An unjust sentence by the court of first instance
conditioned by a macroscopic violation of the law," Obi's lawyer
Roberto Pisano said, referring to the original conviction.
Earlier this month Italy's justice ministry ordered an
inquiry into the conduct of two prosecutors in the main case
involving Eni and Shell.
The three judges on Thursday also lifted orders seizing
assets worth $98.4 million from Obi and more than 21 million
Swiss francs ($23 million) from Di Nardo.
($1 = 0.9192 Swiss francs)
(Reporting by Alfredo Faieta Writing by Stephen Jewkes
Editing by Mark Potter)
