*To appear in court Oct. 2
Alex Enumah in Abuja
A former Minister of Petroleum, Mrs Diezani Alison-Madueke, will stand trial on a fresh bribery allegations in the United kingdom.
The alleged offence, according to the Agence France Presse (AFP), was said to have been committed during her tenure as Minister of Petroleum.
Alison-Madueke had fled Nigeria shortly after former President Muhammadu Buhari assumed office.
Although, she had claimed to be ill and needed treatment abroad, but her trip was believed by many to be part of efforts to evade trial by the then new government.
The Buhari administration had accused the former petroleum minister of corruption and filed various charges against her including the permission from courts of competent jurisdiction to seize properties linked to her on grounds that they are proceeds of crime.
Besides, the former administration also sought for orders to extradite her to Nigeria to face charges.
Despite her fleeing from Nigeria in 2015, she was first arrested in London in October 2015 but was granted bail.
However, eight years after, the 63-year-old is billed to appear in court in the British capital on October 2, this year.
The fresh charge filed by the UK National Crime Agency (NCA) accuses Alison-Madueke of collecting bribe from contractors before awarding them projects, the AFP reported on Tuesday.
A statement by the head of the NCA, International Corruption Unit, Andy Kelly, said: “We suspect Diezani Alison-Madueke abused her power in Nigeria and accepted financial rewards for awarding multi-million pound contracts.”
According to the NCA, Alison-Madueke allegedly benefitted from at least £100,000 ($127,000) in cash, chauffeur-driven cars, flights on private jets, luxury holidays for her family and the use of multiple London properties.
The charges also detailed financial rewards including furniture, renovation work and staff for the properties, payment of private school fees, and gifts from top designer shops such as Cartier jewellery and Louis Vuitton goods.
“Bribery is a pervasive form of corruption, which enables serious criminality and can have devastating consequences for developing countries,” Kelly said.
“These charges are a milestone in what has been a thorough and complex international investigation,” he added.
The AFP also reported that Alison-Madueke has been living in the Upmarket St John’s Wood area of North London since she was first arrested, and undergone chemotherapy for breast cancer, according to her family.
At the time of her arrest, the NCA said it had detained five people in London on suspicion of international corruption, without naming them.
The NCA said that assets worth millions of pounds in relation to the case had been frozen as part of the investigation.
In March, the agency, which targets international and organised crime, provided evidence to the US Department of Justice allowing them to recover assets totalling $53.1 million linked to Alison-Madueke’s alleged corruption.
Alison-Madueke, in office from 2010 to 2015, was the first woman to be oil minister in Nigeria and the first female president of the global oil cartel OPEC.
Soon after her arrest, her family’s lawyer told AFP she would strongly contest corruption allegations that have dogged her during and after her time in former President Goodluck Jonathan’s government.
