Two Milan prosecutors were sentenced to eight months in prison by an Italian court on Tuesday for neglecting to submit documents that could have supported energy group Eni’s position in an international corruption case.
Despite this, Eni Shell and all the defendants were acquitted by a Milan court in March 2021 in what became known as the industry’s largest corruption case, centred on the $1.3 billion acquisition of a Nigerian oilfield ten years ago.
Judges in a Brescia court ruled that Milan prosecutors Fabio De Pasquale and Sergio Spadaro were legally obligated to submit documents that could have aided the defence team in the trial.
The prosecutors’ lawyer, Massimo Dinoia, stated that his clients plan to appeal the verdict once the court files the detailed reasons within 45 days. They can continue working during the appeals process.
“This sets a dangerous precedent as it questions a fundamental principle, which is the autonomy in the procedural choices of a public prosecutor,” he remarked.
If upheld, the ruling will also require the two prosecutors and the government to compensate one of the acquitted defendants in the Eni trial, who had joined this case as an aggrieved party, in a separate civil proceeding.
The Milan court that acquitted all the defendants in the Eni and Shell trial criticised the prosecutors for their work, stating that they had failed to submit a video shot by a former Eni external lawyer among the trial documents, which they deemed relevant to the case.
The Brescia court imposed the eight-month sentence requested by prosecutors, who claimed that De Pasquale and Spadaro had concealed elements favouring the defendants in the Eni-Shell trial, violating their rights.