Farid Bedjaoui Attended Chakib Khalil's Meetings Without Having Institutional Position In Sonatrach

Farid Bedjaoui attended official meetings with Saipem without having any official status in the Algerian Energy Ministry, Italian ENI CEO, Claudio Descalzi, said.

“Saipem obtained its contracts in Algeria alone without the intervention of ENI leaders”.
According to the Reuters Italy, Discaltzi, who was heard by the Milan court on Monday as a witness in the Sonatrach-Saipam scandal or what is known as the 200 million euro bribe, explained in his response to the public prosecutor’s questions in the same court that according to his experience, Farid Bedjaoui did not have an institutional role or position In the Algerian Energy Ministry.
In his response to the prosecutors’ questions, Claudio Descalzi said that Farid Bedjaoui was taking part in the meetings and acting as a messenger and mediator with very confidential information between the leaders of Eni and the Algerian former Energy Minister Chakib Khalil.
During the hearing, the latter defended the former executive director of Eni, Paolo Scaroni, and his possible relationship with Saipem branch in Algeria,  asserting that Saipem was acting freely and individually without getting into Eni’s leadership affairs.
According to Descalzi, the former ENI official Scaroni could not act and exercise the authority of the acts on Saipem even if he wanted to do so, adding that the latter (Scaroni) did not interfere at all in the work and even if he wanted to, he could not intervene.
Claudio Descalzi explained that Scaroni did not interfered with Saipem’s access to its projects in Algeria, because of measures to prevent it, and there were also technical bodies at Saipem which were taking care of such issues.