Former ENI CEO and current AC
Milan Chairman Paolo Scaroni was acquitted of international
corruption Wednesday in a case involving alleged kickbacks paid
by the oil group's engineering unit Saipem to Algeria's former
energy minister and his entourage in exchange for contracts to
exploit oil deposits in the African country.
Also acquitted was ENI manager Antonio Vella.
ENI was also acquitted.
A Milan prosecutor in February asked for a six-year and
four-month prison term for Scaroni.
The prosecutor also asked for a 900,000-euro fine for the
fuels group and Saipem.
He also asked for eight years in jail for Farid Noureddine
Bedjaoui, trustee of the then Algerian energy minister, who is
alleged to have been the beneficiary of the bribes.
Prosecutors had claimed it was "easier" for ENI to use its
subsidiary to move the alleged kickbacks.
ENI, Scaroni and the other defendants consistently denied the
charges.
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