UK Court Adjourns Diezani’s Bribery Trial

By - LagosCityReporters 30 October 2023 Comments (0) 2 Mins Read

The Westminster Magistrates Court In London has adjourned the trial of the former Minister of Petroleum Resources, Diezani Alison-Madueke, to November 2025

In a ruling on Monday, October 30, the court ruled that the hearing involving the former Nigerian minister over bribery allegations will continue at the stipulated date.

Nigeria’s former minister is on trial for allegedly accepting a £100,000 bribe from some oil companies.

On October 2, Michael Snow, the district judge at the Westminster Magistrates Court in the United Kingdom, granted Alison-Madueke bail in the amount of £70,000 after judging her “a flight risk.”

Before she was granted bail, Snow had put harsh conditions on Alison-Madueke, including an 11p.m. to 6 a.m. curfew and the wearing of an electronic tag at all times.

Alison-Madueke and four other people were detained in the United Kingdom in October 2015 on suspicion of bribery and money laundering.

The UK’s National Crime Agency (NCA) stated in August 2023 that they suspected Alison-Madueke of accepting bribes in exchange for awarding multi-million pound oil and gas contracts.

The NCA stated on its website that Alison-Madueke “is alleged to have benefited from at least £100,000 in cash, chauffeur-driven cars, private jet flights, luxury vacations for her family, and the use of multiple London properties.”

Meanwhile, the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Lateef Fagbemi (SAN), has submitted a warrant of arrest and request to the Crown Prosecution Services of the United Kingdom for the urgent extradition of Allison-Madueke.

EFCC had on October 2, revealed that it had commenced extraditing Mrs Alison-Madueke from the United Kingdom back to Nigeria over 13-count charges bordering on money laundering levelled against her by the anti-graft agency.

The commission further revealed that the money laundering charges for which Alison-Madueke is answerable to the EFCC, covered jurisdictions in Dubai, the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom, the United States of America, and Nigeria.

The EFCC alleged that the former minister in the administration of former President Goodluck Jonathan from 2010 to 2015 stole $2.5billion from the Nigerian government while she was a minister.