A CORPORATE bribery trial billed as the biggest in history opened today against oil giants Shell and Eni over an £800 million scandal to win control of a lucrative oilfield in Nigeria.

The firms’ size makes it the biggest trial ever and it is unprecedented that Eni’s current chief executive Claudio Descalzi remains in his post while he faces such serious charges.

“We have never seen a sitting CEO of an oil major go on trial for bribery,” said Barnaby Pace, a campaigner with activist group Global Witness.