The corruption trial of Diezani Alison-Madueke, former Nigerian Minister of Petroleum Resources and the first female president of OPEC, is set to begin in London on Monday.
Alison-Madueke, 65, faces five counts of accepting bribes and one count of conspiracy to commit bribery, all linked to her tenure as oil minister between 2010 and 2015 under former President Goodluck Jonathan.
Prosecutors allege that between 2011 and 2015, she accepted “financial or other advantages” from individuals connected to two energy companies. The alleged benefits include the use and refurbishment of several London properties, payment of staff costs, luxury furniture, chauffeur-driven cars, a private jet flight to Nigeria, and £100,000 in cash.
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Other counts allege she received bribes in the form of school fees for her son, goods from high-end stores such as Harrods and Louis Vuitton, and additional private jet flights. The indictment said the payments amounted to “improper performance” of her duties as oil minister.
She appeared in a London court last week for preliminary proceedings, including jury selection, ahead of a trial expected to last between 10 and 12 weeks.
Two other defendants, Doye Agama and Olatimbo Ayinde, are also standing trial on related bribery charges.
Alison-Madueke has been on bail since her arrest in London in October 2015 and has denied all charges. She was formally charged in 2023, when the UK’s National Crime Agency (NCA) said it suspected she abused her position to receive financial rewards for awarding multi-million-pound contracts.
Earlier in 2023, the NCA said it provided evidence to U.S. authorities that enabled the recovery of assets worth $53.1 million linked to the alleged corruption. These included luxury properties in California and New York and a 65-metre superyacht, Galactica Star, the U.S. Department of Justice announced on March 27.
Born in Port Harcourt in 1960, Alison-Madueke studied architecture in Britain and the United States before joining Shell’s Nigerian subsidiary. She served as transport minister under the late President Umaru Yar’Adua, later as minister of mines and steel development, and was appointed petroleum minister in 2010. In 2014, she became the first woman to serve as president of OPEC.
AFP
