UPDATE 2-Eni officials tried to tamper with witness in Nigeria case - prosecutor

(Adds testimony of former Eni legal adviser, Eni CEO lawsuit)
By Emilio Parodi
MILAN, July 18 (Reuters) - Officials from Eni ENI.MI
sought to convince a witness, a former Eni manager, to withdraw
some statements he made during investigations into a Nigerian
corruption case involving the Italian oil group, a court heard
on Wednesday.
Prosecutor Fabio De Pasquale made the comment in a trial
hearing into the case, during a legal debate over a request by
Eni lawyers to adjourn proceedings to give more time to consider
evidence in a related obstruction-of-justice investigation.
"We have become aware that Eni, through its managers, would
have tried to influence and would have approached the defendant
(Vincenzo) Armanna to convince him to withdraw some of his
statements," De Pasquale told the court without elaborating.
Armanna is both a defendant and prosecution witness in the
trial in which Eni is accused of acquiring a Nigerian oilfield
in 2011 by corruptly paying middlemen.
Armanna declined to comment to Reuters late on Wednesday on
the allegation he was approached to withdraw some of his
testimony. He has always denied wrongdoing.
According to new testimony given to prosecutors by a former
legal adviser to Eni, viewed by Reuters, the attempt to convince
Armanna to withdraw some of his statements was directed by Eni
Chief Executive Claudio Descalzi.
Lawyer Piero Amara says in the written testimony that
Descalzi had authorised another Eni executive, Claudio Granata,
to enlist Amara's help in persuading Armanna to withdraw some of
his evidence against Eni in the corruption case.
Excerpts of that evidence, not yet revealed in court but
made available to parties directly involved in the trial, were
leaked in Italian newspapers on Wednesday, prompting a strong
denial by Descalzi as well as a defamation suit against Amara.
Granata has also filed suit for defamation against Amara,
Eni said, adding: "The claims made by Amara in his testimony
filed by his defence are denied categorically."
Amara is himself under investigation for alleged obstruction
of justice. His lawyer has said that Amara did nothing wrong.
Amara's lawyer, Salvino Mondello, was not immediately
available for further comment on Thursday.
Eni has also denied any wrongdoing in the trial, in which it
is accused of buying the oilfield in the knowledge that the vast
majority of the $1.3 billion purchase price would be siphoned
off to agents and middlemen in corrupt payments.
Oil major Shell RDSa.L , which jointly bought the field
with Eni, is also on trial for corruption over the deal. It
denies any wrongdoing.
While the trial against Eni and Shell enters its final
stages, Milan prosecutors continue to investigate the
allegations that Eni officials sought to obstruct justice in the
Nigeria case. No charges have been laid. "Eni is dealing with the (trial) proceedings with the utmost
serenity and is confident that the deliberations underway will
continue to confirm the company's total non-involvement with
facts that never happened and have nothing to do with the
group," the company said.

(Editing by Mark Bendeich, Silvia Aloisi, Edmund Blair and Nick
Tattersall)