Nigeria´s Minister of Petroleum Resources Diezani Alison-Madueke arrives for the 161st ordinary conference of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) on June 14, 2012, in Vienna. World oil prices were narrowly mixed today with OPEC expected to maintain its output ceiling at a meeting in Vienna. AFP PHOTO / DIETER NAGL (Photo credit should read DIETER NAGL/AFP/Getty Images)
A former Nigerian oil minister, Diezani Alison-Madueke, on Monday, appeared before the Westminster Magistrate Court in London to face alleged bribery charges.
The former Nigeria’s minister for petroleum resources between 2010 and 2015 during the administration of former president Goodluck Jonathan was charged with receiving bribes in the form of cash, luxury goods, flights on private jets and the use of high-end properties in Britain in return for awarding oil contracts.
Making her first court appearance at Westminster Magistrates Court on Monday, Alison-Madueke spoke only to give her name, date of birth and address.
The charges against her, read out in court, all related to events alleged to have taken place in London during her time as a minister.
Prosecutor Andy Young said she was alleged to have accepted a wide range of advantages in cash and in-kind from people who wanted to receive or continue to receive the award of oil contracts, which he said were worth billions of dollars in total.
The advantages included a delivery of 100,000 pounds ($121,620) in cash, the payment of private school fees for her son, and the use and refurbishment of several luxurious properties in London and in the English countryside.
They also included the use of a Range Rover car, payment of bills for chauffeur-driven cars, furniture, and purchases from the upmarket London department store Harrods and from Vincenzo Caffarella, which sells Italian decorative arts and antiques.
Alison-Madueke, along with two others, was charged in August with six bribery offences. She has denied the allegations
A resident of St John’s Wood, an expensive area of London, Alison-Madueke is the third high-profile Nigerian politician to face prosecution in Britain in recent years, following James Ibori, a former Delta state governor who was convicted of fraud and money laundering in 2012 and a former deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu, who was convicted by the Old Bailey Criminal Court, and sentenced to nine years, eight months in prison for plotting to harvest a man’s kidney for his sick daughter, Sonia.
The trial of the case is scheduled to commence on 30th October.
Yusuf Oketola is a trained journalist with over five years of experience in the media industry. He has worked for both print and online medium. He is a thorough-bred professional with an eye of hindsight on issues bothering on social justice, purposeful leadership, and a society where the leaders charge and work for the prosperity of the people.
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