Timeline of the ENI-Shell OPL 245 trial in Milan

  • September 2013

    Re:Common, Global Witness and The Corner House submit a complaint to the Milan public prosecutor office requesting an investigation of ENI, its managers and former Nigerian officials as well as Italian and Nigerian middlemen over their role in the 2011 OPL 245 deal.

  • June 2014

    ENI is notified to be under investigation by Milan public prosecutors.

  • September 2014

    UK authorities respond to request by Milan public prosecutors to freeze US$85 million arising from the OPL 245 deal that was being held in the UK following litigation between Malabu Oil & Gas and Nigerian middleman Emeka Obi. At the same time, the Swiss authorities also froze around US$112 milion in the Basel bank accounts of middlemen Obi, Di Nardo and their companies.

  • May 2015

    Re:Common, Global Witness and The Corner House submit an addendum to their 2013 complaint to the Milan prosecutor, requesting an investigation of Shell and its senior managers.

  • February 2016

    Shell’s headquarters in The Hague is raided by a joint investigative team of Italian and Dutch financial police.

  • December 2016

    The Milan public prosecutor’s office notify Shell, Eni, and 11 other defendants as well as the victim – the Federal Republic of Nigeria – as to the conclusion of its investigations, including the charges that it would seek to bring.

  • February 2017

    The Milan public prosecutor’s office requests that the judge reviewing the investigations – known as the “preliminary judge” – open a trial.

  • April 2017

    A preliminary hearing starts on the case. In the course of the hearing Obi and Di Nardo opt for “a shortened judgement” criminal proceedings, meaning that the decision as to whether or not the indictment is justified is made at the preliminary hearing rather than at the end of the trial, which is skipped. The judge agrees to their request and a separate “shortened” case is opened (a sentence is expected at the end of summer 2018).

  • June 2017

    Four former Shell managers are also notified as to the conclusions of the Milan investigation into their involvement and a trial is requested by Milan public prosecutors. The preliminary judge agrees to this additional request.

  • December 2017

    The preliminary judge rules that Eni, Shell companies and all the other defendants, including former Shell managers, should be sent to trial.

  • January 2018

    The preliminary judge amends her December 2017 decision to address an error in the text concerning the description of charges of the four Shell managers. Shell will later use this error to challenge the decision to send the managers to trial (see below).

  • March 2018

    A directions hearing is held in Milan.

  • March 2018

    The four former Shell managers file an application to the Supreme Court of Italy contesting the January 2018 amendment to the December 2017 decision by the preliminary judge and seeking to have the decision overturned.

  • May 2018

    The criminal trial begins in Milan. However, the hearing is suspended pending the outcome of the Supreme Court’s decision on the application by the four former Shell managers to overturn the preliminary judge’s decision in relation to their prosecution.

  • June 2018

    The Supreme Court dismisses the application by Shell managers.

  • June 2018

    The first substantive hearing of the case takes place in Milan on June 20th.