A Milan court has acquitted energy groups Eni and Shell along with a series of past and present managers including Eni CEO Claudio Descalzi in the oil industry’s biggest corruption scandal.

The sentence, read out in court by Judge Marco Tremolada, comes more than three years after the trial first began and after a total of 74 hearings.

Since the Italian court has acquitted the two major oil giants, it is not clear if other pending court cases including that of Nigeria will follow the same way. The judgement is a respite to the multinational oil companies accused of corruption.