The CEO of Italian energy giant Eni, Paolo Scaroni, was sentenced to three years in prison Monday over inadequate environmental standards at a power plant when he was CEO at Italian utility Enel.
The court’s verdict, which Reuters viewed, said Scaroni was also banned for five years from holding public office.
Scaroni has run state-controlled Eni since 2005. He faces re-election as Eni’s leader in May.
“I am in no way involved in this matter and will appeal immediately,” Reuters reported Scaroni as saying. “As shown by the defense, Enel’s Porto Tolle station has always met the required standards.”
Scaroni was also named in a corruption investigation that began last year.
Italian and Algerian prosecutors are examining allegations that executives from Saipem SpA, owned 43 percent by Eni, paid bribes for contracts in Algeria worth billions of dollars.
Scaroni hasn’t been formally charged in the Saipem matter and denies wrongdoing.
The Italian court Monday acquitted the current CEO of Enel, Fluvio Conti.
The charges against Scaroni are unlikely to fall under Italy’s anti-corruption rules adopted in late 2012, Reuters said.
Italy’s government has said that state-controlled companies should discharge any director or top executive convicted of financial crime.
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Julie DiMauro is the executive editor of FCPA Blog and can be reached here.
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