Nigeria has filed new corruption charges against Shell and Eni over the $1.3billion acquisition of an oilfield in 2011, a news report said, citing court documents.
A prosecutor from the country’s financial crimes watchdog told Reuters that the authority had made the charges of conspiracy to commit a felony and official corruption after finding new evidence.
The targets of the new charges include local subsidiaries of Shell and Eni, company directors, a Nigerian former oil minister and a former justice minister, the report said.
The court filing alleges that $800million was paid to Nigerian officials for block OPL 245.
Eni told Reuters it had not been notified about the charges while Shell did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The oilfield assets were seized and transferred to the Nigerian government in January.
A court will rule on a request by Shell and Eni to lift the forfeit on March 13.
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