Italian energy company Eni has never funded any political parties in any way, contrary to the allegations by L'Espresso weekly, which suggested there was a deal on diesel fuel with Russia's Rosneft oil giant for that purpose, the Italian company's representative told Sputnik on Monday
ROME (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 25th February, 2019) Italian energy company Eni has never funded any political parties in any way, contrary to the allegations by L'Espresso weekly, which suggested there was a deal on diesel fuel with Russia's Rosneft oil giant for that purpose, the Italian company's representative told Sputnik on Monday.
"The media reports on this describe a deliveries operation that never happened," the company's representative said.
Eni reserves the right to go to court to protect its reputation in light of reports on alleged operations aimed at financing political parties, the company's representative added.
On Sunday, L'Espresso published an article alleging that representatives of Lega party, which belongs to the Italian ruling coalition, had secret talks in Moscow to secure funding for Lega ahead of the European elections. The weekly alleged that the funding would have been given to Lega due to a Rosneft-Eni deal on the delivery of 3 million tonnes of diesel fuel within six or 12 months. The Russian company was allegedly expected to give Italy a 6-percent discount, with 4 percent going to Lega and the rest returning to Russia.
According to L'Espresso, Gianluca Savoini, an aide to Lega's Matteo Salvini, took part in the secret talks on this deal. In addition, Salvini, who serves as Italy's deputy prime minister, allegedly secretly met Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Kozak in October while on a visit to Russia.
L'Espresso admitted that it did not know if the deal had been made, but concluded nevertheless that its aim would have been to support Lega in European elections slated for May.
Savoini has refuted, in a comment to Sputnik, media reports on his alleged involvement in such secret talks.
On Friday, La Stampa newspaper published a summary of L'Espresso article. Rosneft then issued a statement demanding that La Stampa retract the article on Liga's funding. The Russian company said it might otherwise go to court. Rosneft then issued similar demands to L'Espresso. La Stampa on Saturday published Rosneft's statement.
Ilya Dzhus, a spokesman for Kozak, said on Sunday that the article of L'Espresso was based on unsubstantiated speculations, adding that the Russian deputy prime minister had not been personally acquainted with Salvini or held any official or secret meetings with him.
