Premier Giuseppe Conte, for now, does not condemn Eni's CEO Claudio De Scalzi. Il Fatto Quotidiano reports, in detail, the investigation of the acquisitions of the deposits in the Congo.
So Giuseppe Conte"Until the criminal facts relevant to Claudio Descalzi are ascertained, he will trust me. He tells me about personal events of Descalzi's wife and for me criminal responsibility is personal".
Investigators are interested in Petro Service Congo, controlled like another ten companies by the Dutch Petro Serve Holding BV. From the site www.petro-services.com it turns out that this colossus operates in Nigeria, Gabon, Angola, Mozambique and has a large naval fleet. Work with Eni and other large groups. From 2012 to 2017, according to investigators, the group rented ships and services to Eni Congo Sa for 105 million dollars.
According to the investigators, in 2014, Marie Magdalena Ingoba, the Congolese wife of Descalzi, controlled Petro Service Congo through a Luxembourg company: Cardon Investments Sa.
The fact, if confirmed, would at least raise a conflict of interest for the Eni number one.
"I HAVE NEVER heard of it and have never had anything to do with this company ", is the response of lady Ingoba-Descalzi.
Yet, according to the Milanese investigators, the documentation on Luxembourg companies would confirm that on April 1, 8 - a week before the Renzi government appointed Descalzi to head Eni - Ingoba would have sold its shares in Cardon Investments sa to Alexander Anthony Haly.
On the Petro-Services group website, the young English manager based in Montecarlo appears as the group's CEO. On 5 April he was searched in Monaco by the Milanese prosecutors. Like Roberto Casula (former Eni number three) and Maria Paduano. The investigation then targeted other companies. Now the prosecutor has found new "investigative evidence" according to which on April 1, 8 Haly bought the shares of Cardon Investments Sa from Descalzi's wife. To understand something more, the Fact looked at the company chamber documents. The pyramid is composed as follows: at the bottom we find Petro Service Congo and the other African sister companies, all controlled by Petroserve Holding Bv, a Dutch company founded in 2014 with a capital of 2000 euros and based in Capelle a an den IJssel, South Holland . But this is only the beginning: to understand who is behind it, you have to go to Luxembourg where Cardon is located.
In addition to Petro Service Congo, it also controls that of Ghana, as well as oil companies operating in Nigeria. And precisely the Dutch Petroserve. Among the administrators is a Haly. Cardon is established by JMCPS, a Luxembourg trustee in turn constituted a final trustee called Bureau d'Ecosse.
From Eni they say: “Our company confirms the correctness of its actions and the extraneousness to any illicit conduct. In relation to the investigations of the Milan Public Prosecutor's Office, Eni has already started the appropriate internal checks, also with the involvement of an independent law firm and is fully cooperating with the judicial authorities.
With regard to the hypothesized role of Ms. Ingoba in relation to the Petro Service Congo company, Eni refers to the explicit denial given by the Mistress of her alleged involvement as a holder of ownership shares through the company Cardon Investments ". The question of the Luxembourg company and the alleged relationship between Ingoba and Haly is part of the trend that emerged as early as April 5: the Guardia di Finanza had carried out a series of searches in Milan, Rome and Monte Carlo, there are six suspects.
The accusations: the oil concessions in Congo, worth at least 350 million euros. The hypothesis is that, in order to obtain the renewal of the concession, Eni paid a premium of around 10 per cent, demanded by the Congolese authorities to promote the country's economy.
The benefits would go to politicians and administrators of the Congo.
For the accusation there would be no bribes but benefits on the exploitation of the fields. The story would have revolved around the Aogc (Africa Oil and Gas Corporation), effectively controlled by Denis Gokana, advisor to the local dictator Denis Sassou Nguesso.
The search decree of April, signed by prosecutors Paolo Storari and Sergio Spadaro, explains that in 2013 another company also enters the scene that buys 23 per cent of an important mining permit, Marine XI: Wnr, World Natural Resources . It is a "shell company" based in London - the magistrates write - controlled by some screen companies, Sceplum and Oligo. Among the directors who have succeeded at the helm of Wnr is the usual Haly. Only investigations will tell whether Haly was really the buyer of Cardon's Luxembourg shares from Descalzi's wife.
Source: The Daily Made