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Nigeria charges two oil majors with corruption over license deal

Nigeria

Nigeria’s anti- corruption agency has filled new charges against two oil multinationals.

The graft body on Thursday filed charges against oil majors Shell and Eni over a $1.3 billion offshore block deal.

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) accused 11 defendants of official corruption, courts documents indicated.

Shell, Eni and Agip, Eni’s Nigerian subsidiary, are alleged to have corruptly given the “aggregate sum of $801 million” to Nigerian businessmen and politicians.

The latest charges come after a Nigerian court in January ordered Eni and Shell to temporarily cede control of the jointly owned licence to the government pending investigation .

According to a 2013 report by law makers, the $1.1 billion acquisition of the deep-water Gulf of Guinea licence, estimated to hold at least 9 billion barrels of crude reserve worth $1 trillion, violated tax regulations and a law promoting Nigerian ownership.

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