United Kingdom (UK) Court has granted a former Nigerian minister for Petroleum Resources, Diezani Alison-Madueke, bail in the sum of 70,000 pounds.
Madueke, who currently lives in St John’s Wood, London, appeared at Westminster Magistrates Court on Monday after being charged with bribery offences amounting to 100,000 pounds following a National Crime Agency (NCA) investigation.
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The District Judge, Michael Snow, granted her bail but imposed some other conditions on her after considering her ‘a flight risk’.
The judge also ordered her to always wear an electronic tag, and imposed a 70,000-pound surety to be paid before she could leave the court building on Monday.
Alison-Madueke, 63, who also served as president of the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), was a key figure in the Nigerian government between 2010 and 2015.
The NCA suspects she accepted bribes during her time as Minister for Petroleum Resources in exchange for awarding multimillion-pound oil and gas contracts.
Assets worth millions of pounds relating to the alleged offences have already been frozen as part of the ongoing investigation.
In March of this year, the NCA also provided evidence to the US Department of Justice that enabled them to recover assets totaling $53.1 million linked to Alison-Madueke’s alleged corruption.
She is alleged to have benefited from at least £100,000 in cash, chauffeur-driven cars, flights on private jets, luxury holidays for her family, and the use of multiple London properties.
Alison-Madueke was arrested in London in 2015, shortly after stepping down as minister, and was charged in August with six bribery offences.
She has spent the past eight years on police bail, living in St John’s Wood, an expensive area of London.
The charges against her, read out in court, all related to events alleged to have taken place in London.
EFCC secures warrant of arrest
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) says it has obtained an arrest warrant for former Petroleum Minister, Diezani Alison-Madueke.
The commission has also initiated her extradition process from the UK.
EFCC, in a statement by Dele Oyewale, its acting head, media and publicity, said it “welcomes, with keen interest, the arraignment of a former minister of Petroleum Resources, Diezani Alison-Madueke at the Westminster’s Court in London, United Kingdom, following alleged bribery allegations.
“Although the charges preferred against her at the London court, are diametrically different from the 13-count charges bordering on money laundering the EFCC has raised against her, it is instructive to note that criminality is criminality, irrespective of jurisdictional differences. No crime can go unpunished.
“The money laundering charges for which Madueke is answerable to the EFCC, cover jurisdictions in Dubai, United Kingdom, United States of America and Nigeria.
“To bring the former minister to trial in Nigeria, an arrest warrant has been obtained and extradition proceedings have been initiated. The Commission is on course for her trial. She will soon have her day in our courts.”
