Questions and Answers Before the Shareholders' Meeting 2017
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Cover e ultima pagina gialla ITA.pdf 1 12/04/17 14:45 Eni SpA Ordinary Shareholders' Meeting 13 April 2017 Answers to the questions received prior to the Shareholders' Meeting, pursuant to art. 127-ter of Italian Legislative Decree No. 58/1998 C M Y CM MY CY CMY K The Italian text prevails over the English translation. Ordinary Shareholders’ Meeting of Eni SpA on 13th April 2017 Replies to questions submitted before the Shareholders’ Meeting under Art. 127-ter of Italian Legislative Decree No. 58/1998 Page Marco Bava………………………………………………………………………………………………………….…….…2 Fondazione Culturale Responsabilità Etica……………………………………………………………….……..37 Jacopo Fo…………………..………………………………………………………………………………………….…….65 Investimenti Sud Italia ………………………………………………………………………………………….…….66 Marinella Garino………………….………………………………………………………………………………..........84 Tommaso Marino……….……..………………………………………………………………………………………….87 1 Shareholders’ Meeting 2017 SHAREHOLDER MARCO BAVA 1) 8th January 2017 - the President of the Republic of Egypt, Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, and Eni’s Chief Executive Officer, Claudio Descalzi, met a few days ago in Cairo. The meeting was an opportunity to analyse the extensive activity carried out by Eni in Egypt, with an overall investment in the country of $2.7 billion in 2016. During the meeting, the CEO Descalzi and President el-Sisi discussed the progress of work on development of the Zohr oil field. The project is progressing extremely rapidly, in line with expectations, and start of production at the end of 2017 was confirmed. Does Eni intend to take a stance on the murder of Regeni? Reply Giulio Regeni was a victim of a terrible crime that horrified us all. It is vital that light be brought to bear on this matter and we hope that the work of the judicial authorities and governments of Egypt and Italy does just that. It is in Egypt’s interest to demonstrate that it is able to give all the answers that the Regeni family is waiting for, to whom we again express our sympathy. Eni has been present in Egypt since the 1950s and our long-term relationship with a country we consider an ally prompts us to repeat our wish for utmost transparency and collaboration between the parties involved in searching for the truth. However, it is important to underline that the murder of Giulio Regeni should not be considered as merely a “case” involving Italy and Egypt. It is not an issue of nationality, but rather respect for the individual, for each human being. This is an inalienable principle for Eni and a value that lies at the very heart of our activities in all parts of the world. Eni is an important partner for Egypt and it is currently involved in significant activities for the country’s future, starting with the Zohr development. As a company we obviously have no authority to participate in the investigations into Regeni’s death, which must fall to the relevant authorities. However, we will continue to raise our utmost concern in this matter over the course of the relationships we will continue to build with the highest levels of the Egyptian government. We have had the opportunity to discuss these issues with Amnesty International, which is pursing the worthy campaign “Truth for Giulio Regeni”. 2) Is true that Eni paid a billion dollars to purchase an oil block in Nigeria? Money that did not arrive in the pockets of Nigerian citizens, but lines the pockets of former oil minister Dan Etete? Following the money trail, we arrived at London, Geneva, Lugano, New York, Washington and Pointe-Noire in Congo- Brazzaville. The Italian entrepreneur, Ottonello, in Congo was indicated by the former Eni manager Vincenzo Armanna as the owner of the plane that took fifty million dollars to Switzerland. According to Armanna, who knows all about the negotiations, a part of the bribe was paid to the then top manager Paolo Scaroni. Report came into possession of a telephone conversation of Ben Van Beurden, CEO of 2 Shareholders’ Meeting 2017 Shell and Eni’s partner in the affair, who spoke about the involvement of former British secret service agents in the negotiations. That the former MI6 agents, in a confidential report seen by Report, write that Eni’s negotiations in Nigeria were the result of an agreement between Berlusconi and Putin? 3) Is it true that the emails they talk about are those of the two former British secret service agents who followed Shell throughout the negotiations? A confidential report states that “Eni told us that the reason for their interest in the oil field was due to a direct request by Berlusconi, after an agreement with the Russian government.” This would explain, on the one hand, the presence of a Russian mediator, Agaev, a respected man, reputed to be close to President Putin. Berlusconi, through his lawyer Niccolò Ghedini, says “I had no role in these negotiations”. Is it true that the British spies insist that the Nigerian oil field is part of a vaster strategy to control energy sources? 4) Is it true that Bisignani is in contact with Di Nardo, an Italian businessman who lives in Switzerland? They were wiretapped while they worried about being left out of the negotiations for the purchase of the Nigerian oil block because rumour has it that Eni wanted to change strategy by dealing directly with the government? 5) From the documents on the agreement between Eni and Obi, it is clear that there is no investment bank but an offshore company. Anyway, coming back to the 110 million dollars awarded Obi by a London judge, which was seized by the Public Prosecutor of Milan. But before the amount was seized, Obi managed to transfer over 21 million francs to the bank accounts of one of the companies belonging to the partner Bisignani? Eni does not pay in Nigeria, but in London to a bank account in a branch of JPMorgan. A couple of days later, someone tried to transfer the billion to an account in the Banca Svizzera Italiana in Lugano. And the bank can be linked to the former Vice Consul in Nigeria, Gianfranco Falcioni? 6) Is it true that the former Vice Consul signed a contract with Dan Etete’s company Malabu and Petrol Service, which can be linked to Falcioni? For 50 million dollars, Falcioni should have passed the entire billion dollars, paid by Eni, from his account in JP Morgan and then transferred it to Dan Etete. Is the office of the trustee used by Falcioni in Mendrisio, near Lugano? The Operation was not successful because the Swiss bank learned that the billion was destined for Dan Etete, and the former Nigerian minister had been accused of criminal activities. The bank wrote to Vice Consul Falcioni: “BSI cannot have relationships with people found guilty of such crimes”. Falcioni informed the then Eni manager Vincenzo Armanna. At the end, around 800 million dollars ended up on two Nigerian accounts of Dan Etete’s Malabu and from there was spread around various companies. One in Abuja, the other in Kano, in the north of the country, and three in Lagos. Debra Laprevotte is a former FBI special agent. For more than one year she followed the streams of money generated by the billion paid by Eni. Most of the money had been withdrawn in cash. People walked into the service entrance of Nigerian banks saying “I’m here to pick up.” That money in cash ended up in the pockets of people who helped in the sale of OPL245. And so 466 million dollars in cash just evaporated. But the movements of the remaining amount have been reconstructed by the FBI. 10 million was pocketed by Bajo Ojo, the former minister of justice. And magistrates discovered a payment of 1.2 million dollars to the former Eni manager, Armanna, from Bajo Ojo. The description of the payment reads: “Armanna inheritance”. The money paid by Eni has 3 Shareholders’ Meeting 2017 travelled around the world, not just to Nigeria, but Europe, Brazil and Singapore. Interesting expenses? Over 7 million dollars went to the French treasury after Dan Etete was found guilty of money laundering, 94 thousand dollars went on a safari in New Zealand. It has been impossible to arrive at the beneficiary of 100 million dollars and then there is the 57 million dollars that ended up in the United States. Over 50 million dollars were used to purchase an aircraft at an Oklahoma City airline. This was a bomber aircraft worth 50 million dollars. The plane is registered with an anonymous company in the British Virgin Islands and was bought by a company registered in the Isle of Man, where information on companies is inaccessible. Luca Chianca is the perfect example of money laundering. Then 2 million went to a movie production company in California and lastly 5 million arrived here: in this IT company outside Washington. There are individuals who have benefited from large sums of cash. Here, for example, 50 thousand dollars were withdrawn in three separate tranches by a woman who does not appear to have obvious links with the company that operates in Nigeria. Was Mr Descalzi aware of all this? How does he respond? Replies 2-6 Some of the questions refer to matters that do not concern Eni, and which cannot therefore be answered. With regard to the OPL 245 operation, Eni has made its position clear on its website, to which reference is made. In particular, since its initial allocation in 1998 until 2011, the exploration block OPL 245 has been the subject of a number of legal disputes and international arbitration involving the Nigerian government, Shell and the Nigerian company Malabu, as these companies claimed to have rights over the block following the various allocations of it.