Former Nigerian oil minister Diezani Alison-Madueke took bribes including luxury goods and the use of high-end properties from industry figures interested in lucrative oil and gas contracts, British prosecutors said at her corruption trial on Tuesday.
Alison-Madueke was minister for petroleum resources between 2010 and 2015 under then-president Goodluck Jonathan and was also briefly president of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), the first woman to hold either role.
The 65-year-old is now one of the most high-profile former energy officials to stand trial for alleged corruption, having been charged in 2023 with five counts of accepting bribes and a charge of conspiracy to commit bribery, which she denies.
Prosecutor Alexandra Healy told jurors at London’s Southwark Crown Court that Alison-Madueke “enjoyed a life of luxury in London”, where she often stayed, provided by those interested in being awarded or retaining contracts with Nigerian state-owned companies.
Healy said Alison-Madueke was given the use of high-end properties and vast quantities of luxury goods by people who “clearly believed she would use her influence to favour them”.
There was no evidence that Alison-Madueke awarded contracts to someone who should not have had one, Healy said.
But given Alison-Madueke’s role “she should not have accepted benefits from those who were no doubt doing extremely lucrative business in oil and gas with government-owned entities”, Healy added.
PROSECUTORS SAY MINISTER GIVEN CASH, LUXURY GOODS
Alison-Madueke sat in the dock alongside oil industry executive Olatimbo Ayinde, 54, who is charged with one count of bribery relating to Alison-Madueke and a separate count of bribery of a foreign public official.
Alison-Madueke’s brother, 69-year-old former archbishop Doye Agama, is charged with conspiracy to commit bribery and is listening to the trial by video link for medical reasons.
Ayinde and Agama also deny the charges against them.
Alison-Madueke is charged with accepting various financial benefits from individuals in the Nigerian oil industry between 2011 and 2015. They include the use of a chauffeur-driven car and a private jet, as well as expensive goods including some paid for in one extravagant 2013 shopping trip to Harrods.
She is also alleged to have had her son’s school fees paid by Nigerian businessman Benedict Peters, who is named on the indictment but is not facing trial.
Ayinde is charged with bribing Alison-Madueke between 2012 and 2014 and also bribing the then-managing director of the state-owned Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) Emmanuel Ibe Kachikwu, who is also not on trial, in 2015.
Healy said that, after Jonathan was replaced as president by Muhammadu Buhari in 2015, Ayinde paid a “substantial bribe” to Kachikwu to ensure her friend continued to work in the NNPC.
Nigeria is one of the world’s largest producers of oil and the largest in Africa, extracting around 1.53 million barrels per day in December according to a Reuters survey, which is around 1.4% of global supply.
But mismanagement and corruption, among other factors, have hampered development and prevented its oil wealth from benefiting wider Nigerian society.
By Reuters
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