Thread by @pace_nik

1/ Today in Milan is the hearing of ex-Eni manager Vincenzo Armanna, a defendant in the Shell/Eni OPL 245 trial. Armanna has accused his former colleagues of knowing that bribes would be paid to Nigerian officials and planning kickbacks for themselves. All deny wrongdoing.

2/ Armanna is both an accuser of Eni's current and former CEOs (both defendants in the case) and is also accused of receiving part of the alleged kickbacks from OPL 245. Armanna received $1.2m from Bayo Ojo, the former Nigerian Attorney General. He says it was an inheritance.

3/ Prosecutors allege in court filings that Armanna had links with Dan Etete, attended negotiations with former Attorney General Mohamed Adoke and “was fully aware of the destination of a large part of the sums paid by ENI to political sponsors of the operation”

4/ Prosecutors also allege Armanna co-ordinated with fellow defendant, Italian businessman and former Italian Envoy Gianfranco Falcioni and former Nigerian AG Bajo Oyo the failed transfers of the $1.1bn through Swiss and Lebanese banks then into Nigeria.

5/ Also note defendants giving testimony in Italy aren’t obliged to tell the truth. In the related trial of two middlemen the judge found Armanna’s testimony while useful could not always be believed and his statements were sometimes contradictory. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Italian_C…

6/ New evidence has been submitted into the trial. Eni's former external lawyer Piero Amara has publicly accused Eni's new head of Legal Affairs of trying to "neutralize" Armanna's statements because they saw Descalzi as likely to be convicted. milano.repubblica.it/cronaca/2019/0…

7/ The Amara evidence was submitted the day before yesterday afternoon by prosecutors. Eni is asking for a delay in proceedings so they can investigate these new allegations that Eni tried to interfere with the proceedings.

8/ Eni CEO Descalzi's personal lawyer, former Justice Minister Paola Severino, is now picking up the Eni argument complaining they haven't had time to digest this new evidence and that newspapers were already printing the contents this morning.
"We love transparency... but"

9/ For context for non-Italian readers Reuters reported on the Italian investigation into the alleged obstruction of the OPL 245 case a few days ago. Amara has already pleaded guilty, he now says he acted on the instructions of Eni's Legal Chief. reuters.com/article/eni-sh…

10/ The prosecutor says that there is evidence that there were attempts to influence a witness and that people approached Armanna, trying to intimidate him into withdrawing his evidence. This is important evidence for the court and defendants to know about.

11/ The prosecutor explains that it was a tricky decision deciding to disclose this new evidence which is part of a separate, secret investigation by other prosecutors. It could damage the other case but the transparency in this court process was seen as more important.

12/ Descalzi's lawyer had mentioned that her client is the CEO of Italy's most important company, the prosecutor says he won't comment on the arguments of national importance of this issue but that it is important that facts can be put to witnesses.

13/ Eni and Descalzi's lawyer said that they are not making their argument based on any point of law, but that they believe it would only be fair to delay proceedings. Shell has supported the request. The prosecutor and Armanna's lawyer have opposed

14/ The judges have taken a break to deliberate on whether to grant a delay. There are two days set aside next week for hearing but they could delay until after the Italian summer break meaning we wouldn't resume until September.

15/ The President of the court rules that they won't postpone. A big decision there. They may also sit most of next week it seems.

16/ Armanna says he was first hired by Eni in 2006 to help check into suppliers. In 2009 he became a vice president for sub-saharan Africa. He was fired in 2013 over a dispute over 192,000 euros in expenses. He says he reached a settlement with Eni later paying him 400,000 euros.

17/ Armanna says he was brought into OPL 245 discussion as the only Eni senior manager in Nigeria and someone was needed to meet Dan Etete.

18/ Armanna says he related often to Chief Akinmade, a former head of Eni in Nigeria who knew Etete very well. In contrast the middleman Emeka Obi had no record in the oil industry.

19/ Obi's role was not clear, He did not have a clear mandate, when he presented a mandate it was signed by Etete who had no formal role in Malabu.

20/ Armanna says the middleman Obi's companies were strange, he changed which one he used but they were both empty. They wouldn't pass Eni's due diligence, all people involved would have to be identified and this wasn't possible.

21/ Armanna says there were several problems. Whether Obi worked for Malabu, whether Malabu owned the block and who owned Malabu. Malabu shareholding didn't make sense.

22/ Armanna says Obi sent a letter to Eni at Christmas asking to negotiate through him for OPL 245. Normally Eni takes at least a week to respond, all different departments like legal have to feed in and this was at Christmas. Despite the problems Obi got a response within hours.

23/ Armanna says Eni saw the OPL 245 block as a lifeline, big oil reserves, offshore reducing security risks. Eni was close to shutting down Eni Nigeria, other companies like Shell were selling their assets

24/ Armanna says the role of Etete and his conviction for money laundering were known inside Eni, it was discussed, the legal office knew. Its impossible to do a joint venture with a convicted money launderer, Eni's code says you shouldn't even to talk to them.

25/ Armanna went with Obi to meet Etete his house in Lagos. The compound was massive and very luxurious with Elephant tusks in the house. The meeting went badly. Etete wanted to know who Obi was, why he was there, why he had to be paid $200m, that Eni should pay him instead.

26/ Armanna says Etete spoke of a relationship with Descalzi and Casula, senior managers at Eni. He later learned that Descalzi had earlier had dinner with Etete, Obi and Ageav in Milan. This was a problem as it implied approval of Obi and a start of negotiations.

27/ Armanna says it was also a problem to meet Etete, even meeting a person convicted of money laundering is against Eni's rules.

28/ Armanna says the meeting with Etete was the first time he was hearing about a $200m payment to Obi. Armanna says he raised this with his boss, Roberto Casula. He says Casula said Obi was being imposed by the then Eni CEO Paolo Scaroni.

29/ Armanna says $200m was a lot for any middleman, Eni's valuation of the block at the time was around $2bn so 10%, that it was a lot compared to 2-3% which he says is the normal range for the industry.

30/ Armanna says Agaev, the other middleman was very well known and respected, close to both President Jonathan and Obasanjo. One of the most influential Russian oil lobbyists in the world. Agaev was paying the expenses of Etete.

31/ Armanna explains that Etete was often referred to as "The fat man", Jonathan as "Fortunato" and Diezani Alison Madueke as "La Senora" and the project to buy OPL 245 was called "Clear Vision".

32/ Armanna says the homes of his fellow Eni managers were being paid for by Falcioni, one of the other defendants, an honorary consul to Nigeria for Italy, he was a trusted man. Maintenance was handled by the embassy who were worried about security, confidentiality and bugging.

33/ Armanna says that the $200m fee for Obi was well known in Nigeria. The Attorney General Adoke told them the amount was too high. At a meeting at Casula's house Shell manager Peter Robinson and general counsel Nike Olafimihan said the payment could blow the deal.

34/ Armanna says the Shell managers said the $200m payment could get people arrested, it could count as bribes to Italian public officials, that Eni should pay the money separately or take it out entirely. Shell didn't want to pay anything to Obi.

35/ Armanna says Obi claimed General Gusau, the national security advisor and éminence grise of Nigerian intelligence was his sponsor. Gusau was very important for Eni the reference point for the whole Nigerian govt, helping with everything from visas to kidnapping.

36/ Armanna says Gusau was not known to be particularly corrupt unlike others. He says to get a meeting with Diezani Alison Madueke you had to pay a lot of money.

37/ Armanna says Descalzi met Goodluck Jonathan to ensure there was approval that Eni would buy OPL 245. Initially other ministers were present but when they were alone Descalzi asked Jonathan about Obi, it was very unusual to mention a middleman with a President.

38/ Armanna says that the Attorney General Adoke and General Gusau dropped their support for Obi, Diezani Alison Maduke then isolated dropped her support for him.

39/ Armanna explains that Eni's then CEO Scaroni met Jonathan later in 2010. This was less about the deal but more about providing an endorsement of Jonathan ahead of the elections. Scaroni was influential both because of his role at Eni and in international finance.

40/ Armanna says that it was unusual for the Attorney General to manage the negotiations. The oil minister and President would normally make the decisions. NNPC and DPR were also involved and opposed the deal, didn't want money going to Malabu.

41/ Armanna says Descalzi seemed very concerned that Scaroni's friend and Obi's backer, Luigi Bisignani, who was very politically influential would run a media campaign against him to try to prevent him becoming the next Eni CEO.

42/ Armanna says he told Descalzi that Bisignani would get a fee regardless even if Obi got much less than $200m. He says Scaroni wasn't disputing if Bisignani got $5m or $50m, it was a decision for Descalzi. Armanna suggested finding Obi a consultancy on Nigerian oil law instead

43/ Armanna explains that in October 2010 Eni offered to buy 100% of OPL 245 for $1.26bn direct from Malabu. Eni would pay $980m and Shell the signature bonus. The Nigerian government had already been involved to agree the fiscal terms. Etete refused the deal.

44/ Armanna says he met Etete after the offer at the Hotel Bristol in Paris. Etete claimed Italians were stealing $200m, he said that the $200m was for Scaroni, Descalzi and him.

45/ Armanna says they dined at Casula's with Eni & Shell managers. They knew Obi was the reason Etete refused the deal. The discussed offering an extra $40m with Shell money so Etete could pay Obi. Shell weren't happy but they were told it was damage control for Etete forget Obi

46/ Armanna says he met Bisignani in Italy. Trying to understand if the $200m had come from Scaroni, Armanna says he handwrote in pen a note on the issue but only wrote in pencil the number $200m, rubbing it out. He's pressed by the judge on why he didn't mention this before.

47/ Armanna says Adoke confronted them all when they met in his office to negotiated in November saying the problem was them trying to get kickbacks and they were all at risk of being arrested.

48/ Armanna says Adoke eventually left the office and convinced Etete to accept the higher $1.3bn offer though they still had issues with Malabu's rights to OPL 245, Malabu's right to the OPL 245 license was questionable and they never passed the due diligence.

49/ Armanna says the meeting when they agreed the price Aliyu Abubakar and Munamuna was present. They didn't speak but nodded at the price to the AG who paid attention to them. Only Peter Robinson seemed familiar with them.

50/ Armanna says the negotiations were all video taped. Later Adoke's assistant played back a video of Casula agreeing to some terms when they were dealing with details later.

51/ Armanna says Obi was cut out of the negotiations. They though Etete would just pay him $40m but he didn't know about Obi's later meetings in Milan or with Etete.

52/ Armanna says in late 2010 Mohammed Abacha, Sani Abacha's son sued, saying he owned part of Malabu. There was no evidence as he had used a false name like Etete back in 1998 but Eni couldn't deal directly with Malabu.

53/ Armanna says Obi told him half his fee was for Diezani Alison Madueke who he called aunty but he didn't believe him. When Obi was cut out the Nigerians didn't complain. It was the Italians who put him in. Casula and Descalzi told Armanna it came from Scaroni.

54/ Armanna explains how Falcioni was introduced to him by Casula, at a party hosted by the Italian Embassy. Armanna was invited as he dealt with Italian intelligence. Falcioni was politically connected in Italy and he was hoping he would help Armanna find work back in Italy.

55/ The prosecutor explain that Eni's due diligence papers were found at the offices of a Swiss company EMMGI, connected to Falcioni. Armanna says he doesn't know why they'd have that.

56/ Armanna says Eni had guided the appointment of Falcioni as Italy's honorary counsel to Nigeria. Eni's head of Sub-Saharan Africa Casula prepared a note which was transmitted to the Italian foreign minister.

57/ Armanna says it March-April 2011 there were several issues to resolve. The tax terms as Eni and Shell were buying the block on different fiscal terms. Tax treatment of the sale and where to pay the money as they thought Malabu couldn't open an account.

58/ Armanna says the agreement was crafted so it was the Nigerian government who had to say where the money would go and to what account.

59/ Armanna says it was clear to everyone Etete would get over $1bn. There was no doubt the money was going to Malabu.

60/ The prosecutor says that Eni's legal officer denied knowing the money would go to Etete. Armanna says they all knew as they drafted the agreements including the escrow agreement which mentioned Malabu. Armanna says Descalzi also knew.

61/ Armanna says that it was an explicit request by Eni, rather than Shell, to filter the money through the Nigerian Government so that if asked by the media they could say they paid the Government not Malabu.

62/ Armanna says his colleagues had close connections with an officer at JP Morgan bank which is how they learnt the $1.1bn had been returned after it was sent to Petrol Service, a company connected to Falcioni at an account at BSI bank in Lugano.

63/ Armanna says a $1bn transfer through BSI would have seemed strange as it was a small bank. He says he tried to prevent the scheme even mentioning it to the head of Italian intelligence.

64/ Armanna says he suspected the money was still going to Paolo Scaroni. He was told about cash being taking to Casula's house by Victor Nwafor, a security service agent in Jonathan's bodyguard.

Nwafor has already given evidence in the trial and denied knowledge.

65/ Armanna claims he knew important people in Italian intelligence through his father who had been in the military with them. It was through these connections he tried to prevent the money flowing through BSI bank.

66/ Armanna says Falcioni in handling the OPL 245 money before it got to Malabu wasn't representing Nigerians but the same Italians that Obi was previously there for.

67/ That's it from court today. Armanna's testimony will resume Monday afternoon. In the meantime for more details on the case check out our reporting at globalwitness.org/en/campaigns/o…

68/ On a related note to this morning's argument in court there's this developing news today.
reuters.com/article/us-eni…

69/ Lastly if anyone has any questions about the case also please do just send them and I'll do my best to answer. Caveat - I'm not a lawyer!