When the Board ignores... Ethics deteriorate!

Since 2001, Eni’s Board of Directors has systematically turned a blind eye to the truth: I was fired in retaliation after complying with the company’s own Code of Ethics. 

Recently, I attempted to contact an independent board member at Eni, Mrs. Cristina Sgubin – the only one who accepted my connection request – to present facts and irrefutable evidence about my story. However, she didn’t even read my message!

If board members themselves are unwilling to listen to a whistleblower, how can they fulfill their essential role as "Guardians of Ethics" and "Corporate governance"? The silence and inaction of the Board have serious consequences for Eni’s reputation, undermining the trust of its stakeholders, including Shareholders and investors who expect transparency, integrity, and accountability.

Ethics cannot be just a statement – it must be a practice!

Read more:

1) Fully proven facts known to the Board of Directors of Eni

2) Chronology of Facts" (2001 to 2022)

OPEN LETTER to the CEO UN Global Compact

Dear Mrs. Sanda Ojiambo,

The conduct of the UN Global Compact Integrity Department – in relation to my allegations of systematic and egregious abuses, against the Italian oil giant Eni (a “Global Compact LEAD” company), dated January 25, 2023, due to “attacks” on my name, honor, and reputation – directly violates the “Integrity Measures Policies” of the UN Global Compact.

This policy states that: “The Global Compact Office or a Local Network should only proactively raise a matter under the dialogue facilitation process where there has been an admission by an authorized company representative or a finding of guilt by a competent court or other body relating to a matter that meets the definition of systematic or egregious as set out in the Integrity Measures Policy and FAQs”.

Note that a competent court in Brazil handed down a sentence that: “there was a Code of Ethics at Eni, there were irregularities and illegal activities in the Brazilian subsidiary of Eni and which Mr. Flinto reported to the company's internal channels, as is imperative in the code itself”. Therefore, my role as a “whistleblower” was acknowledged and admitted, proven and declared by the Brazilian justice system.

However, during the AGM 2017, Eni's Board of Directors stated that: “Contrary to what Mr. Flinto believes [...] The former employee was dismissed along with other actors of illicit behavior, for reticence, for having violated the obligation of confidentiality and for trying to instrumentally use ENI's Code of Ethics to obtain personal advantages of the company”.

And, to give credibility to this fallacy, Eni stated at the AGM 2017 that the result of this investigation had been published in the “Eni 2002 Balance Sheet”. However, in this official company document, there is not a single line about me. And there couldn't be! And that’s because Eni never carried out “due diligence” into my case. Not even during the “Good Offices”, offered by the NCP Brazil, in the period from 2020 to 2022!? It's a behavior that disregarded and neglected the guidelines of the “OECD Due Diligence Guidance for Responsible Business Conduct” that Eni boasts to the market that it “accepts” and “follows”!?

In this sense, as my allegations against Eni are “fully proven” (see file) – including the documents transferred in 2022, under Brazilian legislation, by the state-owned Petrobras, a company that purchased Eni’s Brazilian assets in 2004 – the Global Compact Integrity Department needs to handle my case in accordance with the Integrity Measures Policy itself:

1. If an allegation of systematic or egregious abuse is found not to be prima facie frivolous, the Global Compact Office will contact the participating company concerned, requesting:

a) written comments, which should be submitted directly to the party raising the matter, with a copy to the Global Compact Office;

b) that the Global Compact Office be kept informed of any actions taken by the participating company to address the situation which is the subject matter of the allegation.

2. The Global Compact Office would be available to provide guidance and assistance, as necessary and appropriate, to the participating company concerned, in taking actions to remedy the situation that is the subject of the matter raised in order to align the actions of the company with its commitments to the Global Compact principles.

For all these reasons, I ask for your help, as CEO & Executive Director of the UN Global Compact, so that the largest global initiative for “Responsible Business Conduct” can honor its own “Integrity Measures Policy”, thus, safeguarding the reputation, integrity, and good efforts of the UN Global Compact and its participants in relation to transparent means to deal with credible allegations of systematic or egregious abuse of the general objectives and principles of the UN Global Compact.

I await your response with great expectation.

Best Regards.

Douglas Linares Flinto
Chairman & CEO
Brazilian Business Ethics Institute

 

Read more: 

a) Whistleblowing Report to the UN Global Pact against Eni 

Eni and the practices of ethics-washing

How is it possible for an Independent Non-executive Director, Lead Independent Director, and Chairman of the Control and Risk Committee of the Italian oil giant Eni to not fulfill the role of "Guardian of Ethics," neglecting and disregarding the commitments made by the company, not only the principles enshrined in Eni's Code of Ethics but, more importantly, the international commitments that the company proclaims to the market and its stakeholders that it "accepts" and "follows," such as the "OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises", the "United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights", and principles 01 and 02 of the Global Compact? 

Despite the facts presented by me being fully proven, Eni is insisting on not conducting the necessary "due diligence" of my case to finally demonstrate, after 23 long years, that I was "unfairly" dismissed in "retaliation" by the executives I had reported, including directors of Eni's Brazilian subsidiary.

Read more:

1) "Fully proven facts known to the Board of Directors of Eni"

2) "Chronology of Facts" (2001 to 2022)

Eni: Violation of Human Rights (Art 12 - UDHR)

To
Interministerial Committee for Human Rights (CIDU)
Mrs. Sabrina Ugolini
President
Italy

 

Subject: Eni - Violation of Human Rights (Art 12 - UDHR)

  

Dear Mrs. Sabrina Ugolini,

A very important fact that needs to be noted by CIDU in relation to the "3rd version" about my dismissal from AGIP Brazil (former Brazilian subsidiary of Eni). Note that there are only two possibilities for the content of Eni's presentation - in the AGM 2017 - regarding the "3rd version" of my dismissal: either the version is "true" or the version is "false".

I have prepared a "new material" (see in the file below) so that you can analyze the strategy that Eni's executives has been using to handle my case: "a systemic imposition of instrumentally engineered retaliation and victimization - with attacks on my honor and reputation - that distorts and manipulates the truth to exempt itself from its own responsibility regarding all the damage I have suffered over these more than 21 long years".

This document fully proves that I am not the "villain" of this story, but the main "victim", despite having complied with Eni's Code of Ethics when I whistleblowing fraud and acts of corruption in AGIP Brazil with deviations million dollars a year. Therefore, I am the whistleblower, as recognized by the Labor Court of Brazil!

For this reason, I ask CIDU to request "clarifications" from Eni's Board of Directors on this situation, which is directly violating the commitments assumed by the company, whether corporate commitments or international commitments such as the "UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights" (Principle 4: The nexus between the State and companies), especially that the Italian government is an adherent nation. 

And, because of this Principle 4 (UNGP 31), I request also that Italian government - as the "controlling shareholder” of Eni - require the company's Board of Directors to finally carry out a "due diligence" on my case in the light of the “chronology of the facts” (see in the file below) which was sufficiently capable of “reconstructing the events” about the “actions” and “omissions” of Eni’s Brazilian subsidiary and of Eni itself to my disadvantage.

I place myself, from now on, at your disposal, and I look forward to your contact.

Best Regards.

Douglas Linares Flinto
Chairman & CEO
Brazilian Business Ethics Institute

Read more:

1) Fully proven facts known to the Board of Directors of Eni

2) Chronology of Facts (2001 to 2022)

Eni & ILO Convention 190

Dear Mrs. Maria Teresa Bellucci (Vice Minister of Labour of Italy),

Italy is one of the first nations to “ratify” Convention 190. Therefore, the provisions of Convention 190 are “binding”, meaning they are “mandatory” for the Italian government, which is the “controlling shareholder” of the Italian oil giant Eni.

Convention 190 also applies to employees and former employees. Moreover, we can assert that “retaliation” (such as unfair dismissal, failure to protect whistleblowers as mandated by the Code of Ethics, SLAPP suits, and attacks on honor and reputation) constitutes a form of “harassment”.

The files below contain facts and full proofs of practices contrary to ILO Convention 190 imposed by Eni over a span of 23 long years against me.

I would appreciate information on what steps I can take to ensure that the Italian government (and Eni) comply with what is stipulated in Convention 190 in my favor.

I await your response as soon as possible.

Best Regards.

Douglas Linares Flinto
Founder & CEO
Brazilian Business Ethics Institute

Read more:

1) "Fully proven facts known to the Board of Directors of Eni"

2) "Chronology of Facts" (2001 to 2022)

Eni & Me: a story of incredible 23 years!

Dear Mr. Raphael Vermeir,

Today marks 23 long years since I was unfairly fired from Eni's Brazilian subsidiary in proven “retaliation”. And this is because, in accordance with Eni's Code of Ethics, I reported a “million-dollar scheme” involving, including, members of the Board of Directors of Agip Brazil.

In all these years, I have come into contact with five different compositions of the Board of Directors of Eni (2002, 2009, 2014, 2020 and 2023) under the management of three different CEOs. My intention has always been to raise awareness and convince the Italian oil giant to carry out the necessary "due diligence" of my case. But, instead of doing what needed to be done, Eni began to punish me for having had the boldness and courage to confront its executives with the truth of the facts, including three SLAPP suits.

Today I make new contact, this time with the “Control and Risk Committee” of the Eni Board of Directors of which you are the Chairman.

I would like you to be able to "require" Eni's Internal Audit Department so that, finally, "due diligence" is carried out on my case through the attached documents that make full proof that I am the “victim” of this story having my executive career destroyed and my retirement ripped out of my hands.

As an independent non-executive director to the Control and Risk Committee, you have an “ethical obligation” to definitely handle this case.

I hope you do the right thing!

Read more:

1) "Fully proven facts known to the Board of Directors of Eni"

2) "Chronology of Facts" (2001 to 2022)

The 3rd SLAPP suit against me!?

This is the sentence from the third SLAPP suit that the Italian oil giant Eni has filed against me. If two SLAPP suits in the civil sphere weren't enough, now Eni is filing a SLAPP suit in the criminal sphere. All these cases involve "slander" and "defamation", which are typical of a "SLAPP suit".

Now, instead of Eni using this kind of "retaliation" against me simply because I had the audacity and courage to confront the Board of Directors and top executives, the company should fulfill its commitments, both corporate and, especially, international commitments, and conduct the necessary "due diligence" on my case to prove that I am not the "villain" in this story as Eni wants its stakeholders to believe. Quite the opposite!

During these almost 23 years of struggle to restore my name, honor, and reputation, which have been systematically attacked by Eni, my story is an example of how powerful corporations use the justice system to punish "whistleblowers".

Read more: Judgment of the SLAPP suit (Criminal) against Me  

Eni & Whistleblowers

Are you an employee of the Italian oil giant? 

Are you thinking about complying with Eni's Code of Ethics and making a whistleblowing report? 

Be careful! I was also a whistleblower at the company's Brazilian subsidiary and, incredibly, I have been trying for almost 23 long years to recover and restore my name, honor, and reputation, which have been systematically tarnished by Eni. 

Therefore, I make the words of a song by Michael Jackson my own: 

"All I want to say is that they don't really care about us".

 

CSDDD: Bad news for Eni...

Bad news for Italian oil giant Eni.. And great news for me!

Hypocritical Company

After an incredible 8 months, without any update on my whistleblowing about "human rights", I can only conclude that Eni is a "Hypocritical Company" that does not "honor" its own commitments. This is a shame!

Access the Italian oil giant's "Whistleblowing website" and enter the number "2719 0442 4028 1367" to find out more about my history of more than 22 long years with the company.