Scaroni jail asked for Algeria 'bribes' (5)

(ANSA) - Milan, February 26 - A Milan prosecutor on Monday asked for a six-year and four-month prison term for former ENI chief Paolo Scaroni in a trial into alleged kickbacks on contracts in Algeria involving engineering unit Saipem. 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.
    In his summing up prosecutor Isidoro Palma said Scaroni and ENI North America chief Antonio Vella "used the subsidiary to move the kickbacks because it was easier for ENI".
    ENI reiterated to ANSA that neither it not Saipem had done anything wrong.
    It said it would prove this during defence arguments over the coming weeks.