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1/ I'm in Milan to live tweet the trial of @Shell @Eni & others for corruption in the OPL 245 oil deal with Nigeria. We're expecting Ednan Agaev, a middleman and defendant in the case who claimed President @GEJonathan probably received $200m in the deal. All deny wrongdoing. 
2/ Agaev is the first of the defendants in the OPL 245 trial to take the stand so his testimony could be very interesting as well as revealing what defence he plans to put up. Eni and Shell executives on trial have declined to give evidence. All the defendants deny guilt.
3/ Agaev is a former Russian & Soviet diplomat. He clearly still has friends in high places as Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov recently asked Italy to “be reasonable” and drop charges. Prosecutors called this “at the very least surprising” uk.reuters.com/article/uk-ita…
4/ Agaev's alleged role in the deal was negotiating with Shell on behalf of former Nigerian oil minister Dan Etete but after Etete refused to pay Agaev a claimed $65m for his role Agaev sued in the US and UK. Agaev also reportedly spoke to FBI and Italian authorities.
5/ Agaev reportedly told prosecutors “I heard from Chief, he claims that he had to pay 400 million, so, if this is true, if he paid 400 million, then most probably the President, as the biggest boss, took at least the half of it.” Jonathan has denied receiving bribes.
6/ Agaev also reportedly told prosecutors that Etete told him, ‘I can’t pay you, I have to pay Adoke [Mohammed Bello Adoke, then Nigeria’s attorney general] $400 million and all the other people in the Senate and the National assembly'. Adoke's also denied receiving money.
7/ Agaev’s statements to authorities were reported in this excellent piece by @buzzfeednews @claudiogatti and @jamesrbuk . Agaev didn't comment at the time. buzzfeed.com/jamesball/shel…
8/ For more details of @GEJonathan denial where he calls claims of bribes ‘fabricated’ see gej.ng/archives/1181 Mohamed Adoke also denied wrongdoing and said he received no money from the deal in a recent interview premiumtimesng.com/news/headlines…
9/ The hearing has started and Agaev is on the stand. The lawyers had an argument over what language the questions and answers should come in. English or Russian. We're going with English.
10/ Agaev explains that he started his career for the Soviet Union Ministry of Foreign Affairs where he was a senior official for arms control, took part in nuclear arms negotiations, was a senior official at the UN and Ambassador for Russia to Columbia.
11/ Agaev knew former President Obasanjo for the first time in the 80s, he campaigned for Obasanjo's release in the 90s. After Obasanjo's release he visited Agaev in Columbia. Agaev says he didn't learn about OPL 245 until 2008 though when working for a Russian oil company.
12/ Agaev says he knew the OPL 245 block was revoked because Etete was associated with Malabu, the company owning the block. Agaev claims Obasanjo said the block was actually intended for Abacha, after Abacha's death it fell to Etete.
13/ Agaev says Obasanjo said he had to give the block back to Malabu because of legal mistakes in the revocation. Claims Malabu won in court, the prosecutors points out that actually Malabu lost in court.
14/ Agaev said people tried to politicise the decision but "the main reason was legal". The prosecutor then confronts Agaev with his FBI interview Agaev said the block was given back to Etete by Obasanjo to shore up political support in the the south of Nigeria.
15/ The court taking a break after more objections from Defence lawyers over the use of the FBI interview documents. The judges will ponder whether to admit the evidence.
16/ The court finds that there's no doubt Agaev made these statements, his lawyers were present and there's no legal basis to exclude them.
17/ Agaev says he was introduced to Etete by General Gusau in 2008, Gusau had been the National Security Advisor under President Obasanjo and then later under Goodluck Jonathan. Gusau wanted him to find a Russian oil company investor to deal with Etete and Shell.
18/ Agaev says Gusau introduced him to John Coplestone of Shell. Gusau knew Coplestone because he had been head of the MI6 station in Abuja.
19/ Agaev says he only ever met Etete from Malabu, he was the only person representing them on OPL 245. Gusau wanted to make money from a Russian investor. Gusau had previously helped free 15 Russian hostages held by militants.
20/ Agaev says his job was only to find an investor. Etete was in charge of negotiating with the Nigerian government, Etete didn't need any help or contacts from Agaev.
21/ Agaev describes Shell executives Coplestone and Colegate as intelligence agents. Coplestone head of MI6 in Nigeria, Colegate was in charge of intelligence in Hong Kong. Peter Robinson was in charge of business.
22/ Agaev contradicts his FBI statement saying now that nobody ever asked for bribes, previously he said oil deals in Nigeria were hard because people asked for kickbacks and the amount of kickbacks kept changing.
23/ Agaev explains the other middleman Emeka Obi had a plan to agree a sale price with Etete, agree a higher price with Eni and Obi would get the difference, the "excess price" but this didn't work. Agaev says his commission was to come from Etete.
24/ Agaev is asked about Granier Deferre's diagram with money from the deal flowing to "management". Agaev says he doesn't know about the diagram but Malabu had no management, Etete always called himself an advisor to Malabu but they had no managers.
25/ Agaev is being asked about his fellow middleman Obi's meeting with Gusau, he says he thinks Obi wanted to know about the security situation. Obi's meeting with Diezani Alison Madueke, he vaguely says it was probably about technical issues with OPL 245.
26/ Agaev is asked whether Shell knew he was being paid a commission. He says yes, he had to prove he had a mandate with Malabu. Otherwise Shell employees were under very strict instructions not to discuss OPL 245.
27/ Agaev says he was told by Gusau of the rumoured romantic relationship between Goodluck Jonathan and Alison Madueke. Gusau also called her "extremely greedy and a crook". Agaev says Gusau" was head of the secret services so I assume he knew what he was talking about".
28/ Agaev says Coplestone or Colegate told him when senior Eni executives were visiting Abuja to try to do a deal for OPL 245. Agaev says a sticking point was Shell didn't want to pay any cash in the deal as they had already invested in the block.
29/ Agaev says the Nigerian Govt wouldn't accept if the price for the block was less than $1.5bn, they knew how valuable the block was. He's pressed and then says Etete wouldn't accept a lower price so the govt wouldn't have a deal to approve.
30/ Coming back now from a quick lunch break. The prosecutor says he has three more hours of questions, then we'll have cross examination. Fortunately the court is at least a bit air conditioned as its 35 degrees in Milan today!
31/ The lawyer for Vincenzo Armanna, another defendant who's turned up in court for the first time today just complained that the trial isn't fair because with the crowded courtroom he doesn't have a seat...
32/ Agaev is asked about the dinner in February 2010 between Eni's (now CEO) Claudio Descalzi, Dan Etete, Agaev and Obi. He says Obi and Descalzi had a good relationship based on the body language and the fact that Descalzi came to the dinner after being invited by Obi.
33/ Agaev says Shell was worried about the role of the Attorney General Mohamed Adoke, that he would take Malabu's side too much. Etete told Agaev he and Adoke were close and Adoke was in turn close to Goodluck Jonathan.
34/ Agaev says he was covering Etete's expenses, his travels and hotels. In the Autumn of 2010 Shell asked him to stop paying for Etete so he would be financially squeezed. Etete told Agaev the AG Adoke also pressured Etete telling him the govt could revoke the block.
35/ Agaev talks about a meeting with senior Eni executive Roberto Casula. Etete wanted to know if he had to pay the middleman Obi. Casula said it wasn't his business. Casula said he wasn't there to negotiate but Etete wanted to talk to decision makers for Eni and got angry.
36/ Agaev is asked about the former Eni executive Vincenzo Armanna (in the room), he says Etete told him Armanna threatened to kill him and he was full of bullshit. The judge asks what he means by bullshit...
37/ After the deal was done Agaev took Etete to Moscow, in late spring (the weather was nice). Etete was very happy, he got over a billion dollars but didn't want to pay Agaev so he sued for $66m in London and tried to freeze the money.
38/ Agaev says Etete said he had friends he had to pay back, parliamentarians and others. Agaev is asked if Adoke was one, he says no. Agaev says he doesn't know
39/ Agaev is confronted with his statement that Etete told him he had to pay $400m to various people including Adoke. Agaev claims Etete owed Adoke money from legal work before he became Attorney General.
40/ Agaev's statement is read where he said Etete told him "I can’t pay you, I have to pay Adoke [Mohammed Bello Adoke, then Nigeria’s attorney general] $400 million and all the other people in the Senate and the National assembly'. Agaev says he doesn't confirm the statement.
41/ Agaev now claims he was under pressure in the interview to mention a name so said Adoke. He says he didn't mean for his interview to be used against him and refuses to confirm his statement. The prosecutor asks why Agaev lawyer didn't protest, or mention this in his statement
42/ Agaev claims the prosecutor was aggressive in his interview and he had to remind him he was an ambassador of a great power. The Judge dismisses this saying its just his opinion we can just move on.
43/ Agaev is asked whether he thought Goodluck Jonathan got money from the deal. He says his statement to the FBI should be understood that he thought it was a possibility money would go to Jonathan. [Edited for typo]
44/ Agaev is confronted with his statement where he said "I heard from Chief, he claims that he had to pay 400 million, so, if this is true, if he paid 400 million, then most probably the President, as the biggest boss, took at least the half of it.”
45/ Big blow up moment. A defence lawyer interrupted trying to object to the evidence on payments to Jonathan. The President of the court angrily silenced him even as the lawyer continued to try to interrupt. A hush fell over the court as the judge reminds them of etiquette.
46/ Agaev claims that Etete had so much influence he didn't need to bribe anyone. Agaev is confronted with his previous statement that Etete might have had to pay some officials. Agaev says this was just him speculating but doesn't want to confirm his statement.
47/ Agaev is asked whether he was ever concerned for his reputation. He says he did not do anything wrong.
48/ That's the end of the prosecution's questions. When we come back we'll have defence cross-examinations.
49/ The lawyer for Copleston and Colegate asks what Agaev thinks happened to the information Agaev told them. Agaev says they were intelligence officers, they presumably reported to their bosses who had decision making power.
50/ Agaev asked if its usual for ex-intelligence agents to work for oil companies. He says yes certainly many old colleagues from the CIA work for US oil companies and many ex-Soviet and Russian intelligence agents work for big Russian companies like Gazprom and Rosneft.
51/ Agaev says Etete claimed Shell was trying to kill him sometimes. Agaev says he thought Etete lied all the time. Agaev and Shell employee John Copleston discussed this and concluded that for Etete lying is a natural state of mind.
52/ Armanna's lawyer takes over cross examination. He asks about Etete's claim Armanna threatened to kill him. Agaev says he didn't take this seriously, he didn't think an employee of an international company would do this.
53/ A few questions, mostly clarifications from other lawyers. Now we're wrapping up for the day. The next hearing is on 17th July when we should hear from from Eni executive Vincenzo Armanna.
54/ You can read more about the case including expert analysis that the deal could cost Nigerian's $6bn, Shell's leaked emails and see who prosecutors say the $1.1bn payment by Shell and Eni went to globalwitness.org/en/campaigns/o…
