I turned to the courts

Yesterday, I explained why I waited.

After my report reached Eni’s Board of Directors, I saw headquarters order a further investigation into the facts, Italian executives become directly involved in Brazil, and a series of dismissals affect Agip do Brasil’s commercial structure.

I still believed Eni would contact me.

But that never happened.

While I waited, the deadline to seek redress before the Brazilian Labor Court was approaching.

So, on July 31, 2003, on the last day of the period considered available by my lawyers, I filed a labor lawsuit against Agip do Brasil.

The core of the case was simple.

📌 I argued that my dismissal could not be separated from the irregularities I had investigated and reported internally, in accordance with the company’s own Code of Ethics.

Agip do Brasil presented a different version.

According to its defense, I had been dismissed “without cause”, and there was no basis for claiming a “breach of trust”. The defense argued that the company had simply exercised its right to terminate my employment.

From that moment on, two different versions of the same events were formally before the Court.

On one side, I presented documents and witnesses to demonstrate the circumstances surrounding my dismissal.

On the other, the company maintained that the termination was lawful and challenged my claim for damages.

The proceedings moved forward.

Documents were submitted.

Witnesses were heard.

The competing versions were examined.

Then, on March 29, 2004, the 18th Labor Court of São Paulo issued its judgment.

At first glance, the outcome was unfavorable to me: my claim for moral damages was dismissed. The operative part of the judgment itself records the dismissal of my claim.

But reading only the outcome means overlooking an essential part of this story.

Because in explaining its decision, the Court made findings concerning the irregularities in Cuiabá, my reporting of those irregularities to the company, and my compliance with the Code of Ethics.

And those words became part of a judicial decision.

That is what I will show tomorrow.

After twenty-five years, I continue to make the same request:

🔴 do not read only the conclusions. Read the documents.


❎ Learn more:

1️⃣ Labor Lawsuit - filed on July 31, 2003 (Five volumes - more than 1,200 pages - original in Portuguese)

2️⃣ Witness statements and testimony:
🔹 Original in Portuguese
🔹 English translation

3️⃣ Judgment of the 18th Labor Court of São Paulo - March 29, 2004:
🔹 Original in Portuguese
🔹 English translation

4️⃣ Chronology of Facts for the Reconstruction of Events - Event 22

Eni never contacted me... Why?

Last week, I reconstructed a sequence of events that began after my report reached Eni’s Board of Directors in Italy - in August 2002.

Headquarters instructed that the issues I had raised be reviewed and further investigated.

Angelo Mario Taraborrelli, then CEO of Agip Petroli, came to Brazil. Shortly afterward, Paolo Grossi, an executive expatriated from Eni headquarters in Rome who was already working in Brazil, began directly overseeing the investigations.

Then the dismissals began.

In December 2002, three regional sales executives left Agip do Brasil in less than a month. Other departures followed, reaching different levels of the company’s commercial structure, including the Commercial Director.

For me, at the time, those events had a very particular meaning.

I believed headquarters was taking action.

After everything I had reported and documented, I began to hope that, at some point, Eni would contact me.

Perhaps to hear my side of the story.

Perhaps to request the documents I had gathered.

Perhaps simply to understand why an employee who had reported irregularities in accordance with the company’s own Code of Ethics had been dismissed just weeks later.

So I waited.

And I kept waiting.

But that contact never came.

While I watched what was happening inside the company, another deadline was quietly approaching: the deadline I still had to seek redress before the Brazilian Labor Court.

My hope that Eni would take the initiative was gradually replaced by the realization that I would have to make another decision.

And time was running out.

That is how I reached July 31, 2003 - the final day of the period my lawyers considered available to file my labor lawsuit against Agip do Brasil.

That day, the waiting ended.

A new chapter of the Flinto Case was beginning:

📌 the pursuit of justice.

That is what I will present tomorrow.

After twenty-five years, my request remains the same:

🔴 I am not asking you to accept my interpretation. I am asking you to follow the chronology, examine the documents, and reach your own conclusion.


❎ Learn more:

1️⃣ Chronology of Facts for the Reconstruction of Events - Event 22

2️⃣ Documents concerning the dismissals that followed headquarters’ involvement:
🔹 Portuguese
🔹 English

3️⃣ Documents from the labor lawsuit filed on July 31, 2003 (five volumes – over 1,200 pages – original in Portuguese)