A multi-billion-dollar Nigerian oil scandal involving energy giants Shell and ENI has resurfaced at the centre of a rapidly expanding hacking and corruption case in Italy, shedding new light on one of the most controversial international business deals in recent memory.
According to NRC, a Dutch daily newspaper, the scandal, which has rocked Italy since late 2024, centres on Equalize, a shadowy Milan-based IT and intelligence firm whose operations spanned digital espionage, surveillance, and the illicit sale of sensitive data from Italian government databases.
The company’s role has now emerged as a possible turning point in the failed prosecution of Shell and ENI over their $1.3 billion acquisition of Nigeria’s lucrative offshore oil field OPL 245 in 2011—a deal long mired in allegations of bribery and corruption at the highest levels.
Equalize: A Front for Cyber-Espionage and Political Intrigue
Equalize, operating from a modest one-room office near Milan Cathedral, marketed itself as a business intelligence and risk advisory firm. But according to prosecutors in Milan, the company was in fact an extensive cyber-espionage outfit.
Led by hacker and IT specialist Nunzio Calamucci and former police officer Carmine Gallo, the firm illegally accessed confidential Italian tax records, police databases, and banking data over several years.
Their client list reportedly included multinational corporations, foreign intelligence agencies, energy giants, and even the Italian mafia and Vatican officials. Authorities found files containing sensitive data on hundreds of thousands of individuals.
Among the named targets were current Italian President Sergio Mattarella and former Prime Minister Matteo Renzi.
The Nigerian Connection: OPL 245 and a Legal Battle
Equalize’s involvement in international corruption came into sharper focus through its connections to the failed prosecution of Shell and ENI in relation to OPL 245, one of Nigeria’s most lucrative oilfields.
Italian prosecutors had alleged that in 2011, both companies knowingly paid $1.1 billion in bribes to Nigerian officials, including top politicians, to secure the oil block.
The case, prosecuted by Milan’s star anti-corruption prosecutor Fabio De Pasquale, led to a high-profile trial and a 2016 raid on Shell’s headquarters in The Hague by Dutch authorities, coordinated with Italian investigators.
However, the case collapsed in 2021 when an Italian court acquitted all defendants, ruling that prosecutors had failed to prove the companies were responsible for what Nigerian officials did with the money.
In a dramatic twist in October 2024, De Pasquale and a colleague were themselves convicted of misconduct over allegations that they withheld exonerating evidence from the court—specifically, a document related to the bribery of a Nigerian witness.
Equalize Boasted of “Bringing Out the Truth”
Now, new revelations from the Equalize case are prompting calls for a re-examination of the prosecutors’ conviction and the wider OPL 245 case. In tapped phone conversations, Italian investigators heard Calamucci discussing ENI, referring to the company using the nickname “six-legged dog”—a nod to the firm’s logo.
The logo of oil company ENI is a dog with six legs, the NRC report noted.
Calamucci claimed to have provided ENI with “secret information” and said, “We have brought shit out. The truth.” He boasted that the prosecutors were now under investigation because “they were the ones who misbehaved.”
When questioned by authorities, Gallo confirmed that Equalize had been hired by ENI to investigate the credibility of a Nigerian witness in the corruption case.
Calamucci said ENI had tasked him with proving that the Nigerian witness was bribed—ironically, the very claim that had originally tripped up the prosecutors and led to their conviction.
ENI Admits Hiring Equalize — But Denies Wrongdoing
ENI has acknowledged in Italian media that it contracted Equalize for legal intelligence services, including support in ongoing litigation.
However, it denies that any documents or evidence procured by the firm were used in legal proceedings. The company maintains that it acted within the bounds of the law and had no role in the Equalize hacking operations.
Shell has not been directly linked to Equalize in this scandal but remains central to the OPL 245 controversy. Both Shell and ENI have consistently denied any wrongdoing in the Nigerian deal, saying the payments were made to the Nigerian government and not to private individuals.
International Fallout and OECD Scrutiny
The Equalize revelations have prompted a new round of international scrutiny. Four NGOs have jointly submitted a request to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), calling for an investigation into the prosecution of De Pasquale and his colleague, citing possible political interference and improper influence.
Drago Kos, former chair of the OECD’s anti-corruption working group, described the conviction of the prosecutors as “devastating” to global anti-corruption efforts. “I have never, not even in the most corrupt countries, seen a prosecutor get a prison sentence for a procedural error,” Kos said.
Twenty international anti-corruption experts, including Dutch prosecutor Daniëlle Goudriaan, have expressed support for the Italian prosecutors and called for transparency around the conviction and the possible manipulation of judicial proceedings.
Appeals and New Evidence
Next week, De Pasquale and his colleague will appeal their convictions in Milan, armed with new evidence from the Equalize investigation. They argue that the hacking firm’s role in supplying ENI with damaging information about a Nigerian witness suggests a broader conspiracy to undermine their case.
Meanwhile, Italian prosecutors continue to pursue new suspects linked to Equalize. In April 2025, additional arrests were made, and investigations have expanded to include alleged mafia involvement, extortion through hacked data, and potential operations in Lithuania, the United Kingdom, the U.S., and Brussels.