ENI shareholders reject new integrity requirements for execs

Rome - The shareholder assembly of the state-controlled Italian oil giant ENI SpA on Thursday rejected the Italian treasury’s directive to institute new integrity requirements for top executives.
    The measure would have meant dismissal or exclusion from the board for any executives holding a lower court conviction on company-related charges.
    While a 59.45% majority of shareholders voted in favour of the rule change, two-thirds are required to modify the company charter. Outgoing ENI Chief Executive Paolo Scaroni, who ceded his post to his replacement Claudio Descalzi at the same assembly, holds such a conviction.
    A court in the northern city of Rovigo at the end of March sentenced two former chief executives of Italian electricity utility Enel, Franco Tato' and Paolo Scaroni, to three years in prison over emissions from Enel's Porto Tolle power plant. The pair were also banned from holding public office for five years.
    Scaroni’s sentence was handed down as the end of his three-year mandate as chief executive was coming up for review by the Italian executive. ENI is 30%-controlled by the Italian state.