A court in the United Kingdom on Monday granted Nigeria’s erstwhile minister of petroleum resources, Mrs Diezani Alison-Madueke, bail in the sum of £700000.
Madueke, who currently lives in St John’s Wood, London, appeared at Westminster Magistrates Court after being charged with bribery offences amounting to £100,000 following a National Crime Agency (NCA) investigation.
The district judge, Michael Snow, granted her bail but imposed some other conditions on her after considering her ‘a flight risk’.
The NCA suspected she accepted bribes during her time as Minister for Petroleum Resources in exchange for awarding multimillion-pound oil and gas contracts.
Assets worth millions of pounds relating to the alleged offences have already been frozen as part of the ongoing investigation.
In March of this year, the NCA also provided evidence to the US Department of Justice that enabled them to recover assets totaling $53.1 million linked to Alison-Madueke’s alleged corruption.
She is alleged to have benefited 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.
Alison-Madueke was arrested in London in 2015, shortly after stepping down as minister, and was charged in August with six bribery offences.
She has spent the past eight years on police bail, living in St John’s Wood, an expensive area of London.
The charges against her, read out in court, all related to events alleged to have taken place in London.
Meanwhile, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has commenced extradition process of the former minister to Nigeria to face 13-count charges bordering on money laundering.
The agency alleged that Alison-Madueke who was the minister of Petroleum Resources from 2010 to 2015 during the administration of former President Goodluck Jonathan, stole $2.5 billion from the Nigerian government while she served as minister.
Spokesman for the EFCC, Mr Dele Oyewale, said the commission had obtained an arrest warrant and initiated extradition proceedings.
“The EFCC welcomes, with keen interest, the arraignment of former Minister of Petroleum Resources, Diezani Alison-Madueke, at the Westminster’s Court in London, United Kingdom, following alleged bribery allegations.
“Although the charges preferred against her at the London court are diametrically different from the 13-count charges bordering on money laundering the EFCC has raised against her, it is instructive to note that criminality is criminality, irrespective of jurisdictional differences.
“No crime can go unpunished. The money laundering charges, for which Alison-Madueke is answerable to the EFCC, cover jurisdictions in Dubai, the United Kingdom, the United States of America and Nigeria.
“To bring the former minister to trial in Nigeria, an arrest warrant has been obtained and extradition proceedings have been initiated. The Commission is on course on her trial. She will soon have her day in our courts,” Oyewale stated.
