A court in the United Kingdom (UK) has granted Diezani Alison-Madueke, a former minister of petroleum resources in Nigeria, bail in the amount of £70,000 after being accused of bribery violations totaling £100,000 as a result of an NCA investigation.
Between 2010 to 2015, Diezani Alison-Madueke served as Nigeria’s minister of petroleum resources under the President Goodluck Jonathan administration.
After determining that she was “a flight risk,” District Judge Michael Snow granted her bail but placed further restrictions on it.
While serving as Minister for Petroleum Resources, the NCA believes she accepted bribes in exchange for awarding multimillion-pound oil and gas contracts.
Although her attorney, Mark Bowen, informed the court that she would be entering a formal plea of not guilty, she was not required to do so.
After James Ibori, a former state governor who was convicted of fraud and money-laundering in 2012 and was given a 13-year prison sentence, she is the second prominent Nigerian politician to face prosecution in Britain in recent years.
On October 30, she will make her next court appearance at Southwark Crown Court, which handles serious criminal cases.
As part of the ongoing investigation, assets worth millions of pounds connected to the alleged wrongdoing have already been frozen.
The NCA also gave the US Department of Justice information in March of this year that allowed them to recover $53.1 million worth of assets related to Alison-Madueke’s alleged misconduct.
She is accused of receiving at least £100,000 in cash, use of numerous London apartments, chauffeur-driven cars, private jet travel, and opulent vacations for her family.
In a statement published on its website, NCA said Alison-Madueke “is alleged to have benefitted from at least £100,000 in cash, chauffeur-driven cars, flights on private jets, luxury holidays for her family, and the use of multiple London properties”.
“Her charges 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,” the statement reads.
She has resided in St John’s Wood, a pricey district of London, for the last eight years while on police bail.
All of the accusations against her that were read out in court had to do with purported London-based incidents.
