(Ecofin Agency) - Italian lawyers have claimed that Nigeria's former president, Goodluck Ebele Jonathan (photo), and Diezani Alison-Madueke, the former Minister of Petroleum Resources, received $466 million bribe, as part of a $1.3 billion contract involving Eni and Shell.

Daily Nation revealed that court documents filed late last month in Milan outlined a case against 11 people, including Eni, Shell and senior executives from the two oil companies. Jonathan and Diezani were not featured on the list, but were said to have played a vital role in the deal, which saw Eni and Shell making a $1.3 billion payment in 2011 for the offshore OPL 245 oil block in Nigeria.

It was alleged that Eni’s chief executive, Claudio Descalzi, his predecessor, Paolo Scaroni and former British intelligence agents working as advisors for Shell, met Jonathan personally to discuss the deal. The lawyers claimed that Eni and Shell’s executives worked with Dan Etete, who was oil minister under the military ruler Sani Abacha from 1995 to 1998. Etete's company in Malabu was the holder of the block.

Following negotiations in Milan and Abuja, the block was bought unlawfully by the oil majors in violation of domestic laws, “without competitive tendering and with full, unconditional exemption from all national taxes,” they said, adding that a total of $801.5 million was transferred to Etete's Malabu accounts, of which $466 million was changed in Nigeria and used to compensate government officials, including Jonathan and Alison-Madueke.

The money, they said, was used to shopfor “property, aeroplanes and armored cars.”

However, Eni and Royal Dutch Shell have denied these allegations. “We are aware of the investigation and we hope to show the prosecutor that there is no basis to prosecute Shell. Shell takes this matter seriously and is co-operating with the authorities,” Shell said in an email.

Also, Nigeria's anti-corruption agency, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), recently pressed charges concerning the oil block deal. The crimes commission saw the case as a typical example of political corruption in Nigeria.

While the Federal High Court in Lagos a week ago told Alison-Madueke to surrender the $153 million allegedly syphoned from state funds, Jonathan on the other hand disputed Buhari's claim that he inherited an empty treasury.

Anita Fatunji