Wednesday, December 20, 2017

Eni & The Bribery of the Century!


This is a unique case in the Business World! Italy's Criminal Justice e transformed in "defendants" the current CEO of the Italian oil giant, Claudio Descalzi, and his predecessor, Paolo Scaroni, for the crime of "International Corruption"in the OPL 245 Case, in Nigeria.

Besides, the bribe of US$ 1.1 billion paid in this oilfield is the highest illegal payment in the global corporate story.

Eni also kills the whistleblower!!!

Read more about my case at my Linkedin Profile and in this Blog.

Friday, December 01, 2017

Sicilians take aim at oil 'monster' they blame for children's birth defects



Italy’s biggest oil firm is accused of polluting an area where experts found more toxic substance than water in the sea.

Everyone in the Sicilian town of Gela knows someone who has been hit by the health crisis that has gripped the town for decades.

Mortality rates are higher than elsewhere on the island, and the town has an unusually high rate of birth defects, including the highest rate in the world of a rare urethra disorder.

“There were tragedies that happened daily in the city,” said Luigi Fontanella, an Italian lawyer who began gathering testimony on the health of Gela’s 70,000 residents in 2007. “Everyone in Gela had a relative, a friend and often a child suffering from serious ailments.”

Fontanella found that hundreds of children had been born with congenital anomalies including hypospadias – the urethra disorder – cleft palates and spina bifida.

Local people have long blamed pollution. A 2011 study by the Italian health service drew a similar conclusion: dozens of babies were dying in the womb or within a week of being born every year from complications caused by environmental contamination.

Now, 10 years into a battle to assign criminal responsibility for the town’s health problems, the Italians living in this wasteland feel like they may be a step closer to justice.

Last week prosecutors brought charges of environmental pollution against five managers of Eni, Italy’s largest oil company, which has run an oil refinery in Gela for 54 years.

The prosecutors said Eni for years had been illegally hiding tonnes of toxic waste in a three-mile-long undersea dump off Sicily.

If convicted, the Eni managers could face up to six years in jail. Contacted by the Guardian, Eni said it was “waiting for the decision of the judge” and that it trusted the work of its managers in Gela.

Eni said there was no evidence that malformations were caused by emissions from its refinery rather than other factors such as smog or other substances present in the air.
In 2007, Fontanella asked the local court to investigate the correlation between the high rate of birth defects and pollution from the refinery, which residents nicknamed “the Monster of Gela”.

The court accepted his proposal in 2012 and commissioned environmentalists, doctors and geneticists to study the links.

The experts’ study concluded in 2015 that the sea around Gela was so polluted that it was “technically incorrect to talk about the toxic contamination of the water”.

“The toxic contaminant should be less than, in this case, the water,” they wrote. “Gela seems to be the opposite: it is the water that is the contaminant of the toxic substance.”

The alleged victims include 20-year-old Kimberly Scudera, who has spina bifida – a severe condition where the spine and spinal cord do not develop properly in the womb – and uses a wheelchair.

The court-commissioned doctors said of her condition: “The technical commission unanimously believes that the possibility that Kimberly Scudera’s spina bifida has been caused by the presence of chemicals in the environment (air, water, nutrition), produced by the industrial plant, is entirely concrete.”

Scudera is an Italian archery champion training to participate in the 2020 Paralympics. Her family has sought – but not received – payment from Eni for her care. She lives in an apartment on the second floor of the family home. Her family does not have the money to build a lift. To take her to training each day, Scudera’s mother carries her down the stairs on her back.

“It’s considered almost ordinary here, something we’re all used to,” Scudera said. “Of course I feel angry.”

Eni said the study “hasn’t reached appreciable results’’ and “in this context, no reparations is being considered”.

Eni reached the same conclusion about Nicolò Pace, 15, who was born with a severe cleft palate. In order to pay for Nicolò’s care, his father, Antonio, has accumulated heavy debts.

“This is crazy,” Antonio said. “If we’ll ever get a reparation cheque, the money will all go to my son, for his future, so that he can begin doing what he wants in life, after years of suffering.”

In March, Fontanella asked the local court to seize the farmland around the refinery, to prevent people from eating products linked to the birth defects. Fontanella also asked for €20m (£18m) in compensation for 100 of the affected families.

The court has not yet commented on these requests.

Gela’s chief prosecutor, Fernando Asaro, who has led the investigation alongside the local branch of the Italian coastguard, said: “On the one hand, the petrochemical plant has provided work for a large number of families here. On the other, its presence has heavily polluted the air, water and subsoil of the area, causing tumours and genetic malformations among the population. It was our duty, especially with regard to these people, to intervene.”

As early as 1998, the Italian state – which holds a stake in Eni – recognised the potential link between the refinery and the town’s health problems. That year, the environment ministry included Gela on a list of highly contaminated areas. The government recommended that Eni carry out what it called remediation works – to decontaminate the area – with an estimated cost of €127m. The works were never completed.

Fontanella said the fight for justice was far from over. “I don’t feel like a lawyer in this trial. I feel more like a captain of a ship, sailing in a stormy sea. And I will fight those waves until the end, until my clients receive what Eni has taken away from them.”

Monday, November 27, 2017

Ask Eni: is Ethics a Value for companies?


The answer will be “no” if we look at my story. In 2001, after learning about a millionaire scheme of internal fraud and corruption at Agip Brazil – controlled by an oil giant and one of the largest companies in the world, the Italian Eni – and following the guidelines contained in the words and spirit of the Code of Ethics, I denounced it to the internal channels of the company. However, contradicting the “best practices” of "Compliance" and "Corporate Governance", thirty days later I was fired. Today, Eni is suing me for "slander" and "defamation", at the Civil Court of Rome, and is demanding an indemnity of 15 million EuroThe whistleblower was turned into a villain! For this company Ethics is not a Value!!!
The answer will be “no” if we look at the results of the "LavaJato Operation" that, for over three years, has been stripping promiscuity between the public and the private. Every new operation, with each new revelation, it is proven that Ethics is not a Value for many companies which, aiming only for profit, steal precious resources from the Brazilian society that lives a nightmare when it comes to healthy, education and security.
The answer will also be “no” if we take as an example the companies that, year after year, subscribe project at the "Business Ethics Awards" and, at the last minute, they run counter to the rules of the game and cease to participate in this recognition not caring at all if they are putting at risk the credibility and the reputation of the Brazilian Business Ethics Institute. Besides that, they end up botching our traditional initiative, and what is worst, it is as if they are making a rude gesture to the other participating companies. For those companies Ethics is not a Value!
But, fortunately, Ethics is a Value for a significant portion of the companies! And with the new corporate wave of Compliance, many others have been following the virtuous and victorious steps of those that have already noticed that Business Ethics is a path with no return! Now, the corporate values are influencing, including, the values of the human capital of these companies. And it couldn’t be any different! Companies are not living things, it is their collaborators, from the attendant to the president, that give life to the corporations!
Indeed, Brazil lives a unique moment! The page of Gerson’s Law, of impunity and lack of integrity is being turned and a new history is being written in our nation. And you can be sure that the “Ethical Companies” are helping this noble, commendable and exemplary task that will, without a doubt, make our grandchildren live in a country more just, honest, whole and Ethical!

Monday, November 20, 2017

Eni & Me: a 16 years fight!


My story with the Italian giant and one of the largest companies of the planet began back in 2001 when I was an executive at Eni's Brazilian subsidiary and temporarily took over the main sales management of Agip Brazil. There, I received complaints of irregularities involving conflicts of interests, internal corruption, fraud, and even emission of "cold invoices". Respecting the determinations of Eni's Code of Ethics, I reported the misconducts and nonconformities with the words and spirit of the code, that as the company declares, is the guideline for all the six-legged dog's actions.
On the following weeks, little happened and I ended up getting fired. After invoking Agip Brazil's Committee of Ethics, I got an answer from the Brazilian operation saying that my resignation happened due to an "administrative and organizational restructuring" and not because of a "retaliation", as I stated. This was the first version about my dismissal.
It was evident that the millionaire scheme that I had reported had metastasized throughout the company, and in Agip Brazil's backstage, the top management, in collusion, ran the illegalities and illegal activities practiced in Eni's Brazilian subsidiary.
So I decided to write to the Board and to the company's main shareholders, including to the main one, the Italian Government. The PwC, which at that time was the auditing firm hired by Eni, also received a copy of the new corresponding item. It's the Board of Directors the highest authority inside and outside the company walls, the embodiment of the "Corporate Governance" and the "Big Boss" of all the executives, including the CEO. Besides, the Board is responsible for ensuring the Code of Ethics. Above all, it is the "Guardian of Ethics"!
The resignations at Agip Brazil continued until it reached the commercial management. A few months later, Eni announced to the market the sale of all the Brazilian assets to the state oil company Petrobras, currently involved in the largest corruption scandal in Brazil. However, no contact was ever made with me, and Eni never answered any of my mails! On the contrary, after killing the "whistleblower" in Brazil, the company tried to do the same thing in Italy!
In 2010, Eni decided to file a civil lawsuit in the Court of Rome against me and the Brazilian Business Ethics Institute - an institution I founded in 2003 to promote Ethics in the business and student world - demanding an indemnity of 15 million Euros for damage caused by my libel or slander. (This intimidating attitude, to try to silence its opponents, is in Eni's DNA. In 2013, an investigative reporter from Italian TV RAI, Ms. Milena Gabanelli, showed the company's corrupt management in her TV Program: REPORT. The result: Eni opened a lawsuit of 25 million Euro for slander and defamation. However, a colleague from her profession, made an electronic petition at Change.org, in defense of the journalist, and obtained over 150 thousands of signatures. Eni changed its mind and ended the lawsuit).

In this action, oddly enough, Eni states that all the facts alleged by me are untrue and that, in fact, the company made an undercover investigation in Brazil to ascertain any damage. And I, for not collaborating, ceased the trusting relationship, resulting in my dismissal. This was the second version presented by Eni about my dismissal without the company having submitted one single proof on its charges.
Instead of Eni accepting its mistakes, ascertain its faults, enhance controls and honor its own Code of Ethics, the company chose to hide behind a "frivolous lawsuit" in an attempt to intimidate and silence me, and leave under the carpet the ills of its managements.
Fortunately, in late 2014, the judge ruled "groundless" Eni's lawsuit. The company didn't accept my proposal agreement, but preferred appeal the sentence.
I became a victim of my own report! Eni destroyed my professional career when it put me on the "black list" of all the companies operating in my country. And there's more! Eni is also responsible for the loss of my retirement.
Despite everything, I will continue, until my last breath, with my personal quest to rescue and restore my name, my honor, my image and my reputation unfairly depreciated by the six-legged dog.
In March 2016, my story against the Italian giant Eni was published in an investigative book written by two Italian journalists (Mr. Andrea Greco and Mr. Giuseppe Oddo): The Parallel State: The first investigation on the Eni. Mr. Greco wrote me that: “The authors decided to include your story because, after reading most of the documents you sent and talking with their sources, they convinced themselves that the story had roots, and that was right and interesting to include it in the context of “Stato parallelo”.
In January 2017, the "Ethical Boardroom Magazine" published my article: "Whistleblower a hero, a villain or a fool?". For me, doing the right thing... Acting ethically and with integrity... Makes our life worth living! I'm making my life worth living! (Watch my video about the subject: Make my life worth living!).
And in April 2017, Mr. Mauro Meggiolaro (Eni’s Critical Shareholder of the Fondazione Finanza Etica - Gruppo Banca Etica) took my case to Eni Shareholder's Meeting. Yes, I am the first whistleblower in the world to be represented at a Shareholder's Meeting! Under Italian law, Mr. Meggiolaro wrote 10 (ten) questions about my story. These questions would have to be answered by the Board of Eni. However, the members of the Board of Directors of the company did not answer to the questions that were individually formulated to them and preferred to respond in a long text. In this text, once again Eni "made up" a new version on my dismissal:
"The former employee was fired together with other actors of unlawful behavior, by reticence, for having violated the obligation of confidentiality and by trying to use instrumentally Eni's Code of Ethics to gain personal advantages of the company".
This was the third version of my dismissal without Eni having submitted one single proof on its charges. This type of attitude is part of the character of the company! Just look at the OPL 245 case in Nigeria! Shell has already admitted illegal and unethical acts in the acquisition of OPL 245 and Eni’s Board of Directors continues to deny the irregularities.
It is easy to see that in 16 years Eni presented three different versions on my dismissal, distorting, at each new version, the facts that originally motivated the complaints lodged by me. It is also unincontrovertible fact that one version was more false and liar, more harmful and damaging than the other.
In the 1st Version, the company denies the "complaints" made by me and denies the "retaliation" practiced by Agip Brazil, claiming that it was only a simple and ordinary "administrative and organizational restructuring". In the 2nd Version, I "did not collaborate" and had a "reticent stance" when Eni carried out "secret investigations" in Brazil. And, surprisingly, in the 3rd Version, the company says that I was criminally involved in the scheme of internal fraud and corruption (which I denounced), and that my dismissal occurred along with other actors of "illegal behavior". In addition, Eni accused me of "reticence", of not having preserved "confidentiality" and of being an "opportunistic" person because I had used Eni's Code of Ethics (which I fulfilled in full) to build an untrue story with the intention of obtaining financial advantages of Eni. The company cunning returns against the company itself, as it is more than evident that Eni doesn’t want to admit the truth: that I was dismissed in "reprisal" after denouncing a million-dollar scheme of corruption in Agip Brazil.
It is to be noted that in all those years Eni doesn’t admit its mistakes towards me. It is undisputed that I: (a) simply complied with the determinations of Eni’s Code of Ethics; (b) that I was the "whistleblower" who stripped away the dark facts that were happening in the innards of Agip Brazil; (c) that I denounced a millionaire fraud and corruption scheme at Eni's Brazilian subsidiary, providing the company with the necessary measures to correct such non-conformities with the Code of Ethics and to stop the millionaire deviations in the coffers of Agip Brazil; (d), nor did it finally admit that I was dismissed in "reprisal" when he should have been protected by the instruments present in Eni's Code of Ethics.
Eni's attitudes over the past 16 years are causing wounds to me and will take a long time to heal, leaving sequels and harmful consequences for life. Eni, in addition to not recognizing its mistake, acts in a very unorthodox way, slandering and defaming me. The reflections of the acts committed by Eni against me may well be illustrated by two Brazilian jurists:
“The dishonor, the bad fame, pursue someone like an enormous stain, an irreversible stain. The tranquility of their conscience, the inner health of their character, does not count in the always prejudicial judgment of the surrounding world. The stain of injury and defamation is what stands out most prominently before all in a judgment of obliquity and whispers that never ends”;
“A wounded person by dishonor, their reputation depreciated, mistaken for the null character, the moral indigents, even the triumphant ones, also rises, but, with more difficulty. While there remain in the collective memory those doubts sown by offense, will always be diminished, as if a piece was missing, some portion of an inseparable value of their personality, their honor”.
But, my fight against a giant continues! I make Malala Yousafzai’s words my own: “I tell my story not because it is unique but because it is not” and "I hope my story can be served as an example, motivation and inspiration to other whistleblowers who are being silenced and their careers and reputations buried around the world by companies that don’t respect their codes of ethics, by employees and executives who steal corporate coffers and the board that pretends nothing happens".

Now, a whistleblower will take Eni to the Court of Rome! Wait for news!

Thursday, November 16, 2017

Eni has its hands tied!



From now on, the Italian oil giant Eni has its hands tied and will no longer be able to kill its whistleblower like it trie to do with me from 2001 to the present day!

The Italian parliamentarians approved the "Protection to the Whistleblower Law"! 


Tuesday, November 14, 2017

Thursday, November 09, 2017

Please thank the Italian oil giant for such an atrocity!!!


Babies in Nigeria are twice as likely to die in the first month of life if their mothers were living near an oil spill before falling pregnant, researchers have found.

A new study, the first to link environmental pollution with newborn and child mortality rates in the Niger Delta, shows that oil spills occurring within 10km of a mother’s place of residence doubled neonatal mortality rates and impaired the health of her surviving children.

Crucially, oil spills that occurred while the mother was still pregnant had no effect on child or neonatal mortality. But even spills that happened five years before conception doubled the neonatal mortality rate from 38 deaths to 76 deaths for every 1,000 births, the data found.

“The results from the study are absolutely shocking,” said Roland Hodler, an economics professor from the University of St Gallen in Switzerland, who led the study. “I didn’t expect to see this effect on pre-conception. Why we don’t find a stronger effect [on the foetus] during the pregnancy is not entirely clear – maybe it is due to the cumulative contamination of crude oil in the water and soil, which increases over time. But that doesn’t explain the entire effect.

“This is a tragedy. Even four to five years prior to conception, an oil spill still matters. I think this should be seen as a first-world problem for something to be done.”

Regular, uncontrolled spills have been a prominent feature of Nigeria’s oil industry – the nation’s primary source of GDP – since crude was discovered there more than 60 years ago. An estimated 240,000 barrels of crude oil are spilled in the Niger Delta every year, polluting waterways, contaminating crops, and releasing toxic chemicals into the air.

A 2011 report by the UN Environment Programme estimated that, after decades of repeated oil spills in Ogoniland, it would take 30 years to reverse damage to public health and the regional ecosystem.

Unborn and newborn infants are most vulnerable to oil-related pollution because they have not yet developed basic defences such as the blood-brain barrier, which helps protect against toxic chemicals, the study found. Even small doses of pollution are likely to be large in comparison to an infant’s body weight, while mothers who ingest poisoned food or contaminated water are also at greater risk of maternal malnutrition and sickness, potentially increasing infant mortality risks, said the researchers.

By pairing georeferenced data from the Nigerian Oil Spill Monitor – which recorded the location of more than 6,600 spills between 2005 and 2015 – with the 2013 national demographic and health survey, Hodler and his colleague Anna Bruederle were able to map oil spill locations in relation to neonatal and child mortality rates among the surrounding populations. The result was an analysis of roughly 5,040 children born to 2,700 mothers in 130 clusters, all within 10km of the closest oil spill.

The researchers then compared siblings’ health histories, contrasting the mortality rates of infants conceived or born before the first nearby oil spill with those conceived or born subsequently.

The data proved that neonatal mortality was higher the closer the oil spill was to the mother’s location, and that any oil spills prior to conception increased the incidence of low weight-for-height, notably in the first year of life.

The Nigerian government did not respond to multiple requests for comment.

Activists have called the findings “disturbing and disheartening”.

“It is shocking to consider how many children may have died in the past 50 years – since oil exploration started in Nigeria’s Niger Delta – as a direct result of regular and uncontrolled oil spills,” said Debbie Ariyo of Africans Unite Against Child Abuse, a charity that supports the rights and welfare of African children.

“The ongoing environmental damage means that more children are exposed to harmful chemicals in polluted drinking water, air and food produce. Simply put, as long as the oil spills continue unabated and clean up of the region is delayed, then unfortunately more children will be harmfully impacted.”

Additional reporting by Emmanuel Akinwotu

Wednesday, November 01, 2017

And now Eni? Protection to the Whistleblower Law!



And now Eni? After approving the "Protection to the Whistleblower Law" by the Chamber of Deputies of Italy, the Italian oil giant can't kill anymore its whistleblowers like it tries to do with me!


Thursday, August 17, 2017

This is Eni's Way!


The Italian oil giant acted this way with me as well. The six legged dog can't be confronted that the company use "frivolous lawsuits" to try and intimidate its opponents. 

This is Eni's Way!


Note: Read the full report on the teacher's victory


Tuesday, August 01, 2017

A gift for the Eni's Board


In commemoration of the 16th anniversary of the dismissal of a "whistleblower", the Italian oil giant has received a "gift": a "Criminal Complaint" against all the members of the Board of Directors of Eni, that was filed in Brazil's Criminal Court.

Soon, the Chairman, the CEO and the rest of Directors will be "defendants" for "Crimes against Honor" of this whistleblower because of the practice of "slander", "libel" and "defamation".

Get to know more about this Criminal Complaint in this LINK and this story browsing this blog. 

Monday, July 10, 2017

The decision will be made by the Brazilian Criminal Court


The Italian oil giant Eni, through the D'Ercole Law Firm, had the audacity to send me this correspondence on July 10, 2017.

Who decides whether the people that integrate the Board of Eni committed a "crime against my honor" will be the Justice from my country.

The "Criminal Complaint" is already being finalized and soon will be filed by the Brazilian Criminal Court.


Note: Read the "Request for Public Retraction" made to Eni on June 19, 2017.


Wednesday, July 05, 2017

Criminal Complaint against Eni's Board


I was already expecting it! Eni is a company without character! The Italian oil giant didn't make a "Public Retraction" to undo the slander and defamation done against my person.

Now, my lawyer will prepare the "Criminal Complaint" against all the members of the Board of Eni for practicing "Crimes against Honor".


Note: Read the "Request for Public Retraction" made to Eni on June 19, 2017.


Monday, July 03, 2017

Eni: Today is your D-Day!


Today the deadline given to the Italian oil giant Eni to make a "Public Retraction" and thus, undoing the "slander" and "defamation" done to my person expires.

Starting tomorrow, the members of the Board of Directors will be denounced to Justice for "Crimes against Honor".


Note: Read the "Request for Public Retraction" made to Eni on June 19, 2017.


Wednesday, June 28, 2017

Eni: The D-Day is coming!


The D-Day for the Italian oil giant is coming! Eni has until the 4th of July to make a "Public Retraction" to undo the slander and defamations done to my person.

Otherwise, each of the people who are members of the Board of Directors of the company will be denounced in Brazil for "Crimes against Honor".


Note: Read the "Request for Public Retraction" made to Eni. 


Friday, June 23, 2017

Monday, June 19, 2017

Eni: Public Retraction or Criminal Complaint


To
Eni SpA
Chairman of the Board
Rome - Italy

Copy: Dr. Marco Bollini (Chief Legal Officer)


Douglas Linares Flinto, former executive of the Brazilian subsidiary of Eni, and founder & CEO of the Brazilian Business Ethics Institute, by his undersigned attorney, through this correspondence, set out the following for the purpose of making a request to Eni SpA and, if not met, inform all members of the Board of the company about the measures that will be taken in Brazil on account of the incurrence of "Crimes against Honor".

However, it is necessary to review the history and the reasons that motivated the original acts, duly substantiated by extensive documentation, including witness testimony, which confirms that Mr. Flinto has identified unlawful acts practiced by employees of Agip Brazil and that Mr. Flinto acted in accordance with what determines the Code of Ethics of Eni and encourages all its employees to protect the name, image, reputation and equity of company.

In this way, in 2001, in the exercise of his functions at Agip Brazil, Mr. Flinto, after learning about the practice of internal fraud and corruption, and motivated by the words and spirit of the Code of Ethics of Eni, provided the complaint to the internal channels of the Brazilian subsidiary of Eni, about a scheme that diverted millions of dollars from the company's coffers in Brazil.

Fraud and corruption in the Brazilian subsidiary of Eni

The illegal acts, practiced by the employees of Agip Brazil and that were in total non-compliance with Code of Ethics of Eni, are indisputable facts, since the Public Ministry of the State of Mato Grosso, through the 12th Criminal Prosecutor of Cuiabá, reported to the Criminal Judge all the illegal acts. This report described the crimes committed by Agip Brazil’s employees in collusion with owners of gas stations and fuel carriers. These crimes involved fraud, corruption and tax evasion (Doc. 01).

Mr. Flinto is a whistleblower

It is also indisputable the fact that Mr. Flinto is a "whistleblower". It was Mr. Flinto who complied with the determinations of Eni’s Code of Ethics and provided the complaint to the internal channels of Brazil. In "legal documents of public faith", Mr. Aldo Locatelli (Doc. 02), president of SindPetroleo - Union of Gas Stations of Brazil and Mr. Mateus de Campos Martins (Doc. 03), Advisor of Sales of Agip Brazil, confirmed that Mr. Flinto was the one who provided the complaints about the unlawful acts committed in Agip Brazil. Mr. Flinto's behavior was only and exclusively because that was the determination of the Code of Ethics of Eni.

Dismissal in "reprisal"

However, contrary to all expectations as to the consequences of his acts in favor of Eni, as well as of the principles and values present in Eni's Code of Ethics, a few weeks after reporting to the internal channels of Agip Brazil, Mr. Flinto was fired.

1st version of Eni on the dismissal of Mr. Flinto

Because he believed he had suffered the worst reprisal an employee could ever suffer, and again, following the determinations of Eni's Code of Ethics, Mr. Flinto invoked Agip's "Ethics Commission" in Brazil. Days later, the CEO of the Brazilian operation sent a response from his own e-mail to Mr. Flinto (Doc. 04) saying that:

“I received your email of February 1st 2002 and we appreciate your congratulations and observations about the changes we promoted at the Cuiabá Regional.

We find strange, however, your collocations that your dismissal from the company had occurred due to a “breach of trust”. That does not correspond to the reality of the facts. Your dismissal resulted from the administrative and organizational restructuring of the Cuiabá Regional. Being so that your contract was rescinded normally, with no just cause, having Agip even spontaneously maintained benefits after your dismissal, as, for instance, medical assistance extended to you and your dependents.

We find unnecessary your references to Eni’s Code of Ethics, given that such have always been and always will be the master line of all of our actions”.

This was the first version on the dismissal of Mr. Flinto.

What does the Brazilian Labor Court say?

It is important to note that the Brazilian Labor Court affirmed that there was a Code of Ethics, confirmed the occurrence of internal fraud and acts of corruption at Agip Brazil and acknowledged that Mr. Flinto lodged complaints against the internal channels of Eni's Brazilian operation (Doc. 05).

2st version of Eni on the dismissal of Mr. Flinto

In 2010, Eni filed a lawsuit in the Civil Court of Rome against Mr. Flinto and against the Brazilian Business Ethics Institute, demanding a compensation of 15 million Euros. In inicial petition (Doc. 06) Eni says:

 “We also point out that from the insights made by Eni, it doesn’t appear that any retaliation was committed, nor a violation of the Law and, much less, the principles of Eni’s Code of Ethics, at the expense of the employee on the part of the former subsidiary Agip Brazil and, especially, on the part of Eni.

On the other hand, it is important to emphasize that Douglas Flinto’s dismissal had full justification in his reticent and not collaborative conduct taken by the employee during the company’s undercover investigations that aimed to reveal potential harmful acts to the company itself, ceasing the trusting relationship”.

This was the second version of Mr. Flinto's dismissal without Eni having submitted one single proof on its charges.

Parallel State: The first investigation against Eni

In March 2016, the story of Mr. Flinto, lived with Eni, was published in the investigative book "Eni: The Parallel State" (Doc. 07) written by journalists Andrea Greco and Giuseppe Oddo. Mr. Greco wrote (Doc. 08) to Mr Flinto that: The authors decided to include your story because, after reading most of the documents you sent and talking with their sources, they convinced themselves that the story had roots, and that was right and interesting to include it in the context of “Stato parallelo.

The 3rd version on the dismissal of Mr. Flinto

In April 2017, Mr. Mauro Meggiolaro, as "Critical Shareholder" of Eni (shareholder Fondazione Finanza Etica - Gruppo Banca Etica) took the case of Mr. Flinto to the Eni Shareholder's Meeting held on the 13th of April 2017. Under Italian law, Mr. Meggiolaro wrote 10 (ten) questions about the history of Mr. Flinto (Doc. 09). These questions would have to be answered by the Board of Eni. However, the members of the Board of Directors of the company did not answer to the questions that were individually formulated to them and preferred to respond in a long text (Doc. 10). In this text, once again Eni "invented" a new version on Mr. Flinto's dismissal:

"The former employee was fired together with other actors of unlawful behavior, by reticence, for having violated the obligation of confidentiality and by trying to use instrumentally Eni's Code of Ethics to gain personal advantages of the company".

This was the third version of Mr. Flinto's dismissal without Eni having submitted one single proof on its charges.

With each new version the damage to Mr. Flinto is greater

It is easy to see that in 16 years Eni presented three different versions on Mr. Flinto's dismissal, distorting, at each new version, the facts that originally motivated the complaints lodged by Mr. Flinto. It is also anincontrovertible fact that one version was more false and liar, more harmful and damaging than the other.

In the 1st Version, the company denies the "complaints" made by Mr. Flinto and denies the "retaliation" practiced by Agip Brazil, claiming that it is only a simple and ordinary "administrative and organizational restructuring". In the 2nd Version, Mr. Flinto "did not collaborate" and had a "reticent stance" when Eni carried out "secret investigations" in Brazil. And, surprisingly, in the 3rd Version, he says that Mr. Flinto was criminally involved in the scheme of internal fraud and corruption (which he himself denounced), and that his dismissal occurred along with the other actors of "illegal behavior". In addition, he accused Mr. Flinto of "reticence", of not having preserved "confidentiality" and of being an "opportunistic" person because he had used Eni's Code of Ethics (which he himself fulfilled in full) to build an untrue history with the intention of obtaining financial advantages of Eni.

The 3 versions of Eni try to hide the truth

It is clear that Eni tries to hide the truth from the facts by presenting three different versions on Mr Flinto's dismissal.

Eni's cunning returns against the company itself, as it is more than evident that Eni doesn’t want to admit the truth: that Mr. Flinto was dismissed in "reprisal" after denouncing a million-dollar scheme of corruption in Agip Brazil.

In 16 years Eni does not admit its mistakes

It is to be noted that in all those years Eni doesn’t admit its mistakes in relation to Mr. Flinto. It is undisputed that he: (a) simply complied with the determinations of Eni’s Code of Ethics; (b) that Mr. Flinto was the "whistleblower" who stripped away the dark facts that were happening in the innards of Agip Brazil; (c) that Mr. Flinto denounced a millionaire fraud and corruption scheme at Eni's Brazilian subsidiary, providing the company with the necessary measures to correct such non-conformities with the Code of Ethics and to stop the millionaire deviations in the coffers of Agip Brazil; (d), nor did it finally admit that Mr. Flinto was dismissed in "reprisal" when he should have been protected by the instruments present in Eni's Code of Ethics.

Questions and answers before the Shareholders’ Meeting 2017 

Furthermore, on April 13, 2017, Eni began to hurt Mr. Flinto's honor more deeply by presenting a completely fanciful and lying, unfounded and unjust version, cruel and cowardly, and harmful and damaging on the dismissal of Mr. Flinto. Even worse, Eni, when it published the Questions and answers before the Shareholders' Meeting 2017 on its corporate website, on the page dedicated to the company's shareholders and investors, publicly exposes Mr. Flinto, giving him false and liars accusations, with negative reflexes, not only in Italy and Brazil, but in the whole world.

Eni could already be considered responsible for interrupting Mr. Flinto's professional career, since after his dismissal in Brazil (2001), Mr. Flinto was vetoed in the Brazilian labor market and never again was able to get a new executive position. Without a job, for years, he can no longer pay monthly the amounts owed to INSS (Instituto Nacional de Seguridade Social). Today, Mr. Flinto is a man almost entering the third age and no longer has the legal right of the financial values paid by the Brazilian government as "retirement”.

Brazilian Business Ethics Institute

It is also important to note that the third version presented by Eni and published by the company on its corporate website, with flagrantly slanderous and defamatory content, has immensely detrimental potential to the Brazilian Business Ethics Institute, an institution that Mr. Flinto founded in 2003 and which , In all these years, has been promoting the "best practices" of Ethics both in business and especially in the student environment.

How can the founder and CEO of an institution that fosters Business Ethics, which was conceived and created precisely because of the facts he experienced in the case of Eni, be accused of having participated in the crimes he himself denounced? How would it be possible for Mr. Flinto to be an opportunistic person, whose objective is to obtain personal financial advantages, using the Code of Ethics if this was this document that motivated him to denounce the irregularities that he himself identified? Which companies would be comfortable associating their brands with the institution led by Mr. Flinto? To make these accusations we observe that there is no sense of logic, no foundation and no sense at all, if we carefully analyze the facts ascertained and illustrated in the rich documentation already mentioned and made available for consultation.

In fact, Mr. Flinto, in all these years, has been tirelessly and incessantly pursuing, rescuing and restoring his name, his honor, and his reputation that are being denigrated by Eni to this day.

Wounds and Sequels

Eni's attitudes over the past 16 years are causing wounds to Mr. Flinto and will take a long time to heal, leaving sequels and harmful consequences for life. Eni, in addition to not recognizing its mistake, acts in a very unorthodox way, slandering and defaming Mr. Flinto. The reflections of the acts committed by Eni against Mr. Flinto may well be illustrated by two Brazilian jurists:

“The dishonor, the bad fame, pursue someone like an enormous stain, an irreversible stain. The tranquility of their conscience, the inner health of their character, does not count in the always prejudicial judgment of the surrounding world. The stain of injury and defamation is what stands out most prominently before all in a judgment of obliquity and whispers that never ends”;

“A wounded person by dishonor, their reputation depreciated, mistaken for the null character, the moral indigents, even the triumphant ones, also rises, but, with more difficulty. While there remain in the collective memory those doubts sown by offense, will always be diminished, as if a piece was missing, some portion of an inseparable value of their personality, their honor”.

Public Retraction

For all of the above reasons, Mr. Flinto uses the present correspondence so Eni makes a PUBLIC RETRACTION, within a period of 15 (fifteen) days, counted from the receipt of this correspondence. This retraction should be made on the company's corporate website and also on the major news portals in both Italy and Brazil to undo slanderous and defamatory behavior against Mr. Flinto.

Criminal complaint

However, if Eni SpA do not do the mentioned Public Retraction, we inform that a "Criminal Complaint" will be made in Brazil against each of the people who are members of the Board of Directors of the company due to the practice of crimes against the honor of Mr. Flinto.


Thursday, June 01, 2017

I need to be fair with Eni



In all these years, I've always said that the Italian oil giant demanded in Justice that the Brazilian Business Ethics Institute and I pay an indemnity of 30 million Euro.

But, I need to be fair with Eni. Actually, I was mistaken! The demanded indemnity is "just" 15 million Euro!!!


Note - Get to know:

a) "summary" of my 16 years story against Eni

b) "all the details" of my story with more than 50 supporting documents.

c) "3 versions of Eni" about my dismissal.


Thursday, May 25, 2017

The 3 versions of Eni


Eni told “three different versions” about my dismissal. Each one more damaging and harmful than the other. In the first version, the company denies the “retaliation" after my complaint. In the second version, I did not colaborated with the confidential investigations. And in the third version, I am a “thief” and “opportunistic”.

1ª Version: CEO of Eni’s Brazilian operation (2002)

“I received your email of February 1st 2002 and we appreciate your congratulations and observations about the changes we promoted at the Cuiabá Regional. We find strange, however, your collocations that your dismissal from the company had occurred due to a “breach of trust”. That does not correspond to the reality of the facts. Your dismissal resulted from the administrative and organizational restructuring of the Cuiabá Regional. Being so that your contract was rescinded normally, with no just cause, having Agip even spontaneously maintained benefits after your dismissal, as, for instance, medical assistance extended to you and your dependents. We find unnecessary your references to Eni’s Code of Ethics, given that such have always been and always will be the master line of all of our actions”. 

2ª Version: Lawsuit against me in Italy (2010) 

To make it easier the understanding of the eminent magistrate, I anticipate that, given the communication from Douglas Flinto, without having provided any documentary evidence to justify what was said, proposes an instrumental (functional) reconstruction of the causes that led to his dismissal, in 2001, from Agip Brazil and uses the Code of Ethics for the sole purpose of, repeatedly, defaming and openly discrediting the company. We also point out that from the insights made by Eni, it doesn’t appear that any retaliation was committed, nor a violation of the Law and, much less, the principles of Eni’s Code of Ethics, at the expense of the employee on the part of the former subsidiary Agip Brazil and, especially, on the part of Eni. On the other hand, it is important to emphasize that Douglas Flinto’s dismissal had full justification in his reticent and not collaborative conduct taken by the employee during the company’s undercover investigations that aimed to reveal potential harmful acts to the company itself, ceasing the trusting relationship”

3ª Version: Eni Shareholders’ Meeting (2017)

“The former employee was fired together with other actors of unlawful behavior, by reticence, for having violated the obligation of confidentiality and by trying to use instrumentally the Eni's Code of Ethics to gain personal advantages of the company"

It is evident that Eni, in all these years, doesn’t assume the truth of the facts: that I am a whistleblower; that I fulfilled the Code of Ethics; that I reported a millionaire scheme of fraud and corruption in Brazil and was fired in retaliation. On the other hand, Eni committed a mistake in my case, and it is still committing mistakes and not assuming them, preferring to denigrate even more my name, my honor and my reputation.

My fight against a giant continues!


Note 1 - My motivation: "I make Malala Yousafzai’s words my own: “I tell my story not because it is unique but because it is not”.

Note 2 - My objective: "I hope my story can be served as an example, motivation and inspiration to other whistleblowers who are being silenced and their careers and reputations buried around the world by companies that dont’t respect their codes of ethics, by employees and executives who steal corporate coffers and the board that pretends nothing happens".


Tuesday, May 23, 2017

A whistleblower at 2017 Eni's Shareholders' Meeting



I’m a whistleblower of the Italian oil giant! My fight story against Eni will turn 16 years in the month of August 2017. My story was published in the book "Eni: The Parallel State” by journalists Andrea Greco and Giuseppe Oddo. Mr. Greco says that: “the authors decided to include your story because, after reading most of the documents you sent and talked with their sources, they convinced themselves that the story had roots, and that was right and interesting to include it in the context of 'Stato Parallelo'”.

Now, Mr. Mauro Meggiolaro is Eni’s Critical Shareholder (Fondazione Finanza Etica - Gruppo Banca Etica) and took my case to Eni Shareholder's Meeting (April 13, 2017).

I wrote 10 questions but, the Board of Eni did not answer each of my questions. The company preferred to answer all my questions in a long text, and so, Eni invented "new deceitful versions" about my story (Questions and answers before the Shareholders’ Meeting 2017 - Italian version - English translation forthcoming). 

An example of Eni's lies about my case is that, in the only answer to my ten questions, Eni says at 2017 Eni’s Shareholder Meeting:

"Contrary on what was said Mr. Flinto, of Eni's in-depth analysis, following the communications received from Mr. Flinto in 2002, as well as represented by the Statutory Auditors in the Report of the Shareholder's Meeting informed in Eni's 2002 Balance Sheer, 'the former employee was dismissed, along with other actors of wrongful acts, for reticence, breach of confidentiality duty and the attempt to instrumentally use the Code of Ethics of Eni to take personal advantage of the company”.

I searched the internet and I found on Eni's website Eni 2002 Consolidated Results. This is the LINK to the "FULL" document (March 2003). 

Eni continues to lie and to hide the truth! This type of attitude is part of the character of the company! Just look at the OPL 245 Case in Nigeria! Shell has already admitted illegal and unethical acts in the acquisition of OPL 245 and Eni’s Board of Directors continues to deny the irregularities.

Obviously there is nothing about my case. Eni continues to lie! Eni continues to denigrate my name, my honor, my image and my reputation! 

I make Malala Yousafzai’s words my own: “I tell my story not because it is unique but because it is not” and I hope my story can be served as an example, motivation and inspiration to other whistleblowers who are being silenced and their careers and reputations buried around the world by companies that dont’t respect their codes of ethics, by employees and executives who steal corporate coffers and the board that pretends nothing happens.

My fight against a giant continues!



Monday, May 22, 2017

We know what you did in Nigeria


The Italian Justice must accept the complaint from the Public Ministry against the Italian oil giant Eni and its executives, including the current CEO and his predecessor.

They must all become "defendants" in a criminal lawsuit for "international corruption" for a billionaire bribe payment in the OPL 245 Case in Nigeria.

Until when will the Board of Eni continue with the "deceitful version" of this case?


Note: Read more about OPL 245 at Global Witness.

Tuesday, May 09, 2017