MILAN, Jan 29 (Reuters) - A witness in a graft case
involving oil contracts in Nigeria refused to confirm a key
statement during a court hearing on Wednesday, offering a
possible boost to Italian oil major Eni, which is fighting
allegations of bribery.
In one of the oil industry's biggest scandals, Italian
prosecutors allege Eni ENI.MI and Shell RDSa.L bought a
Nigeria oilfield in 2011, knowing that most of the $1.3 billion
purchase price would be siphoned off to agents and middlemen.
Both firms and the managers accused in the Milan court case,
including Eni's current chief executive Claudio Descalzi, have
denied any wrongdoing. Prosecutors have presented allegations by former Eni manager
Vincenzo Armanna that the cash-laden trolleys were handed over
to Eni managers by way of backhanders in 2011.
Armanna, a defendant in the case, based those allegations on
conversations he said he had had with former Nigerian police
chief Isaac Chinonyerem Eke.
But on Wednesday, Eke denied having met Armanna before 2014,
despite statements in a letter bearing his signature and filed
with the court that the two had met in 2009.
Eke said he had met Armanna briefly on only two occasions,
once in 2014 and once in 2015.
A prosecutor said this represented "a total denial of signed
declarations", adding that prosecutors would consider whether
there were grounds for charges of false testimony.
Asked in court if he had been contacted by someone in
Nigeria before testifying in Milan, Eke said he had met Nigerian
national security adviser general Mohammed Babagana Monguno who
Eke called "head of the secret services".
Eke said he had simply told Monguno what he knew and what he
would say in court.