…appears in Court October 2
The United Kingdom Police has charged Former Nigerian minister of petroleum resources, Diezani Alison-Madueke with bribery.
The former minister, who currently lives in St John’s Wood, an upmarket area of west London, according to Reuters, would appear at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on October 2.
British police said they suspected she had accepted bribes in return for awarding multi-million-pound oil and gas contracts.
Alison-Madueke, 63, was a key figure in the administration of former President Goodluck Jonathan, serving as petroleum minister from 2010 to 2015.
She also acted as president of the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC).
The British police were quoted to have said: “We suspect Diezani Alison-Madueke abused her power in Nigeria and accepted financial rewards for awarding multi-million-pound contracts,” said Andy Kelly, head of the National Crime Agency’s (NCA) International Corruption Unit.
He said: “These charges are a milestone in what has been a thorough and complex international investigation.”
The NCA said Alison-Madueke was accused of benefiting from at least 100,000 pounds in cash, chauffeur-driven cars, flights on private jets, luxury holidays for her family, and the use of multiple London properties.
According to NCA, charges against her also detail financial rewards including furniture, renovation work and staff for the properties, payment of private school fees, and gifts from high-end designer shops such as Cartier jewellery and Louis Vuitton goods.
Allison-Madueke is also facing corruption allegations back home, though she has continually denied the charges.
On May 26, 2023, Diezani had filed a libel suit against the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission and the then Attorney-General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami (SAN).
Alison-Madueke, in suit CV/6273/2023, alleged that the EFCC and the AGF wrote and published false and defamatory reports on the agency’s website and other news sites about her of being a corrupt, dishonest…degenerate, decadent public officer.”
The publications, she claimed wantonly smeared her integrity and character which are of “paramount importance to the success of her political endeavours.”
In the writ of summons filed at the Federal High Court, Abuja by Mike Ozekhome (SAN), Madueke prayed the court to order the defendants to retract the publications and tender an unreserved apology to her in three national newspapers “for the false, injurious, malicious and libelous publications” against her over the last eight years.
She is also seeking an order of the court to restrain the defendants from further distributing or in any form or manner, the same or similar offensive libelous materials or stories of or concerning her.
In addition, she wants the court to order the defendants to pay her the sum of N100,000,000,000.00 (100 billion naira) only as damages for the false, injurious, malicious, and libelous publications against her on the EFCC’s publishing platform, and at the instance of both the agency and the AGF.
