Olushola Omogbehin
The corruption trial of Former petroleum minister in Nigeria, Diezani Alison-Madueke will commence in London on Monday.
Madueke is accused of accepting bribes and one count of conspiracy to commit bribery during her time as Nigeria’s Minister for Petroleum Resources during the era of Goodluck Jonathan as the president of Nigeria.
As the first woman to serve as president of the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), she was first arrested in London in October 2015 and has remained on bail since then.
She was charged in 2023 in the United Kingdom’s National Crime Agency (NCA) of accepting bribes between 2011 and 2015.
“We suspect Diezani Alison-Madueke abused her power in Nigeria and accepted financial rewards for awarding multi-million-pound contracts,” the NCA said at the time.
The prosecutors accused Madueke of benefitting from at least £100,000 in cash, chauffeur-driven cars, private jet flights and the use of multiple London properties.
In 2023 the NCA, which monitors international, serious and organised crime, said it provided evidence to US prosecutors allowing them to recover assets totalling $53.1 million linked to Alison-Madueke’s alleged corruption.
Also link to Madueke as announced by the US Department of Justice are luxury real estate in California and New York, as well as a 65-metre (213-foot) superyacht, the Galactica Star.
Other allegations on her include benefiting from luxury furniture, renovation work, household staff, payment of private school fees and designer gifts from brands such as Louis Vuitton.
She was in a London court last week for preliminary proceedings which include technical matters and jury selection, ahead of the trial that is expected to last 10 to 12 weeks.
Other defendants also being prosecuted on bribery in connection with the case, are Doye Agama Olatimbo Ayinde.
Born in the oil city of Port Harcourt, Alison-Madueke studied architecture in Britain and the United States before joining oil giant Shell’s Nigerian subsidiary.
She was a transport minister in 2007 under president Umaru Yar’Adua and later, minister of mines and steel development.
After the death of Yar’Adua, she became minister of petroleum resources in April 2010 and later, first female president of OPEC in 2014.
