OPL 245: Italian court overturns Emeka Obi’s four-year jail sentence

Obi and Di Nardo, both accused of 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.

Roberto Pisano, Obi’s lawyer, referred to the original conviction as “an unjust sentence by the court of first instance conditioned by a macroscopic violation of the law.”

The three judges also lifted orders seizing assets worth $98.4 million from Obi and more than 21 million Swiss francs ($23 million) from Di Nardo.

The deal dates back to 2011 when Royal Dutch Shell and Eni paid $1.3 billion to purchase an offshore oil field (OPL 245) from Malabu Oil and Gas, a company in which Dan Etete, former petroleum minister, held majority shares.

It is alleged that about $1.1 billion was siphoned off to politicians and middlemen.

Last week, Italy’s justice ministry ordered an inquiry into the conduct of two OPL 245 prosecutors for allegedly hiding vital evidence.