Ex-Nigerian president, Goodluck Jonathan, has been fingered in a bribery scandal totaling about $1.3 billion.
According to AFP, Italian prosecutors alleged that Jonathan and ex-petroleum minister, Diezani Alison-Madueke, were involved in reception of kickbacks in relations with ENI and Shell.
It was gathered from court documents filed in Milan towards the end of 2016 which involved 11 people as well as senior executives from the oil companies and the companies.
Diezani and Jonathan who was ousted from office in May 2015 in what is regarded today as one of the best hand-overs on the African continent.
The woman who became the first-ever female president of OPEC during the same period was reported to have allegedly played a key role in ensuring the payment for an offshore oil block in Nigeria as at 2011.
Although no official charges have been brought before the pair, there are usually 20 days for them to respond to the findings of preliminary probe prior to any formal prosecution.
Claudio Descalzi and Paolo Scaroni, the ENI chief executive and his predecessor respectively, were alleged to have met the ex-Nigerian president one-on-one to finalise the package which was said to have former British intelligence agents standing as Shell’s advisors.
Findings also revealed how Dan Etete, Nigerian business mogul (who was Nigeria’s oil minister from 1995-1998), allegedly worked with Shell and ENI executives.
It was also alleged that Malabu, owned by Etete fraudulently held on to OPL 245 block and after discussions in Italy and Nigeria, was illegally sold to oil majors which clearly contravened the domestic laws.