Giulio Regeni: Italian energy firm backs Egyptian inquiry into researcher's death

The Italian government-backed energy giant Eni has expressed confidence in Egyptian investigators who are examining the torture and murder of Italian researcher Giulio Regeni, in response to a call by Amnesty International for the company to put pressure on Egyptian authorities.

In a letter to Amnesty dated 12 February, Claudio Descalzi, Eni’s chief executive, said information he had received through informal contacts in Cairo showed that “competent authorities are putting in maximum effort to try to find answers” to Regeni’s murder.

Most experts believe that the murder in Cairo of the Italian researcher, who was pursuing a PhD at Cambridge and was last seen alive on 25 January, bears the hallmarks of Egypt’s notorious secret police, who have been linked to the murder of hundreds of Egyptians. Regeni’s battered body was found in a ditch with signs that he had been tortured, more than a week after he went missing.

While Italian authorities appear to be growing impatient with the slow investigation in Egypt, the exchange between Descalizi and Amnesty underlines that Italy does not – so far – appear willing to publicly use its corporate relationships to put pressure on Egypt. Egypt is a critical component of Eni’s business. The letter was written weeks before Eni announced that the Egyptian ministry of petroleum had approved leases that opened the door to the development of a massive Egyptian gas field discovered by Eni last year and seen as transformative for the country.

In its decision to target Eni’s chief executive, Amnesty was clearly aware of Descalzi’s access to the Egyptian president, Abdel Fatah al-Sisi. The two met last November to review Eni’s significant assets in Egypt, as well as the prospects of a gas hub in the eastern Mediterranean. Descalzi and Sisi also met last August and October, according to Eni.

A clear split has emerged in recent weeks between Egyptian and Italian authorities. Italy’s prime minister, Matteo Renzi, has said he would reject being fed “convenient truths” by Egyptians. Last week the Egyptian interior ministry said it believed “criminal activity or the desire for revenge due to personal reasons, especially as the Italian had many relationships with people near where he lives and where he studied,” could be blamed for the murder.