Italy’s highest court has cleared two Milan prosecutors of wrongdoing, effectively closing one of the oil industry’s biggest corruption sagas: the $1.3bn OPL 245 deal linked to Nigeria. The ruling draws a line under a case that ran for more than a decade.
What the court decided
The Court of Cassation, Italy’s supreme court, overturned an earlier ruling and cleared prosecutors Fabio De Pasquale and Sergio Spadaro, declaring that “the offence does not exist.” The pair had been accused of failing to disclose documents that could have aided the defence.
The decision brings to a close the legal aftermath of a prosecution that targeted energy giants Shell and Eni over their acquisition of the Nigerian offshore block.
The deal at the centre of it all
OPL 245 is a deep-water oil block believed to hold vast reserves. In 2011, Shell and Eni paid about $1.3bn to acquire it, but prosecutors alleged that roughly $1.1bn was diverted through the company Malabu to officials and middlemen.
Malabu had been linked to former petroleum minister Dan Etete. Critics long argued that Nigeria saw little of the money beyond an official signature bonus, fuelling years of litigation across multiple countries.
A long road to closure
In 2021, a Milan court acquitted Shell, Eni and all other defendants in what was widely described as the oil industry’s largest corruption trial. The case against the two prosecutors followed, before this final clearance.
Nigeria itself had earlier withdrawn civil claims tied to the deal, and a Nigerian court cleared former attorney-general Mohammed Adoke in 2024. The latest ruling closes the remaining thread.
Why it matters
The OPL 245 affair became a global symbol of debates over oil-sector transparency and accountability. Its conclusion removes a long legal overhang for the companies involved.
For Nigeria, it marks the end of a saga that drew international scrutiny to how one of its most valuable oil assets was handled.
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