- COMMENTS FROM ENI'S SPOKESPERSONS
San Donato Milanese (MI), 3 November 2021 – With regard to the broadcast last Monday by the Report programme, Eni wishes to express its disappointment at the false and misleading information aired, including the slanderous statements by Vincenzo Armanna and the previously convicted Piero Amara, to whom the Report, contrary to decisions of the Court of Milan, continues to give airtime and an impression of credibility.
The broadcast focused on the video recording of a meeting that took place on 28 July 2014 at the offices of businessman Ezio Bigotti (for whom Amara was legal counsel), in which Armanna, in the presence of Amara and other individuals, for the purposes of personal profit in relation to the company’s Nigerian activities, declared that he wanted to take out some Eni managers because they were considered an obstacle to his criminal intentions. Eni notes that just a few days later, following the depositions of Armanna himself at the Milan Public Prosecutor's Office, the former CEO of Eni and the current CEO were entered in the register of suspects in the Eni-Nigeria trial.
Having said this, and pointing out that Eni has been reporting Armanna and Amara for some years in relation to their false declarations made in various areas of investigation, without any action being taken by the Milan Public Prosecutor, the company reiterates the following.
Finally, there are judgements which have been inexplicably sidelined. The first relating to the Eni-Nigeria trial which ended last March with the acquittal of the company and its managers "because there was no case to answer". In the second instance, the same outcome put an end to the related trial against Emeka Obi and Gianluca Di Nardo. Finally, in recent news, the Attorney General rejected Nigeria's request for a Supreme Court appeal against the acquittal of Obi and Di Nardo, consequently determining the "non-existence" of those same facts relating to the offences that Eni and its managers were charged with, and declaring "there is no doubt that Eni managers, as well as the intermediaries, were not involved in the typical conduct of the crime of corruption".
The non-involvement of Eni's management in corrupt acts in Nigeria only confirms what the company has always known and stated in every instance relating to the slanderous statements of Amara and Armanna: they were acting in the interest of themselves or their associates, and certainly not to mislead or divert investigations against innocent people who (in addition to not having committed some of the criminal facts under investigation), as such, obviously had no need for or interest in this activity.
For completeness of information on the events described, please see Eni’s website, where it is possible to see the communication sent by Eni to Report before the broadcast and multiple official documents supporting the claims made by the company.
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