MILAN, July 21 (Reuters) - Italian prosecutors have asked
for oil majors Eni and Shell to be fined and
some of their present and former executives, including Eni CEO
Claudio Descalzi, to be jailed in a long-running trial over
alleged corruption in Nigeria.
In a Milan court, prosecutors asked on Tuesday for eight
years in prison for Descalzi and seven years and four months for
Shell's former head of upstream Malcolm Brinded.
The prosecutors also asked for Eni and Shell to be fined
900,000 euros ($1.04 million) each and sought to confiscate a
total of $1.092 billion from all the defendants in the case, the
equivalent of the bribes alleged to have been paid.
In one of the oil industry's biggest suspected scandals,
Italian prosecutors allege Eni and Shell acquired a Nigerian
oilfield in 2011 knowing most of the $1.3 billion purchase price
would go to politicians and middlemen in bribes.
The companies and individuals accused have all denied
wrongdoing in the case.
($1 = 0.8684 euros)
(Reporting by Emilio Parodi; Writing by Stephen Jewkes;
Editing by Alison Williams)