Features

KINSHASA (Capital Markets in Africa) – The Democratic Republic of Congo’s electoral commission confirmed opposition leader Jean-Pierre Bemba’s disqualification from this year’s presidential vote. Bemba’s removal excludes two key figures from challenging President Joseph Kabila’s anointed successor in the Dec. 23 vote, after businessman-turned-politician Moise Katumbi was prevented from registering for the race. Congo, the world’s biggest cobalt miner hasn’t had a peaceful transition of power since it gained independence from Belgium in 1960. Twenty-one of the 26 candidates…

TUNIS (Capital Markets in Africa) – Saipem SpA was convicted in Milan of corruption linked to energy contracts in Algeria, while fellow Italian oil company Eni SpA was cleared. The oil-services company was fined 400,000 euros ($467,800), and another 197 million euros will be confiscated as part of the conviction, according to judge Giulia Turri. Eni, which owns 31 percent of Saipem, Eni’s former Chief Executive Officer Paolo Scaroni and current Chief Upstream Officer Antonio Vella were cleared of any wrongdoing. Saipem may…

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – Two middlemen were found guilty of corruption in Milan in a case related to an oil deal involving Royal Dutch Shell Plc, Eni SpA and the Nigerian government. Emeka Obi and Gianluca Di Nardo were found by a court to have helped arrange a payment between the oil companies and the Nigerian government for an oil license in the country, which largely went to pay bribes. The verdict could help bolster Italian prosecutors’ case…

JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) – A former Standard Bank Group Ltd. lawyer testified that the South African lender resisted pressure to reverse its decision to close accounts linked to members of the Gupta family, who are friends of former President Jacob Zuma, after they were implicated in a series of suspicious transactions. Ian Sinton, who retired as Standard Bank’s group general counsel in June, was testifying on Monday at the judicial panel investigating the use of political…

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – Nigeria accused HSBC Holdings Plc of money laundering after an analyst working for the lender said that the second term for President Muhammadu Buhari may stall economic recovery in Africa’s biggest oil producer. “What killed Nigeria’s economy in the past was the unbridled looting of state resources by leaders, the type which was actively supported by HSBC,” presidential spokesman Garba Shehu said in a statement late Saturday. A bank that “continued until a…