Nigeria TV Info — Italian Appeal Court Upholds Jail Sentence for Prosecutors in OPL 245 Case

Brescia, Italy — An Italian Appeal Court has upheld an eight-month prison sentence for two Milan prosecutors, Fabio De Pasquale and Sergio Spadaro, after finding them guilty of failing to file key documents that could have supported the defence of energy giant Eni in a major international corruption case linked to Nigeria’s OPL 245 oil block.

According to Reuters, the judges in the northern Italian city of Brescia affirmed an earlier ruling delivered last year, which found that the prosecutors had neglected their legal duty by withholding documents that were potentially favourable to the defendants.

Before the ruling, Spadaro reportedly told the court, “There was no refusal, there was no omission,” insisting that both prosecutors acted “according to conscience and law.”

Their lawyer, Massimo Dinoia, confirmed that the duo intends to appeal the decision to Italy’s top court — the Court of Cassation.

The case stems from the long-running OPL 245 corruption scandal, involving the sale of Nigeria’s lucrative offshore oil block to Shell and Eni by Malabu Oil and Gas Limited in 2011.

The Milan court that acquitted the companies in the 2021 trial had criticised the prosecutors for failing to submit a video recorded by a former Eni external lawyer — evidence that the court deemed relevant to the defence.

De Pasquale and Spadaro were originally convicted in October 2024 for concealing crucial evidence during the OPL 245 trial, which ultimately collapsed due to lack of proof of fraud.

The OPL 245 case has remained one of the most controversial episodes in Nigeria’s oil history, drawing global attention to issues of corruption, transparency, and the handling of multinational energy contracts.

— Nigeria TV Info