UK Court Dismisses Bribery Charges Against Nigeria's Fmr Petroleum Minister, DIEZANI ALISON-MADUEKE

Nigeria’s former Minister of Petroleum Resources, DIEZANI ALISON-MADUEKE, has been cleared of bribery-for-oil contract charges in the United Kingdom.

DIEZANI’s lawyer, JONATHAN LAIDLAW, confirmed the development in a statement, saying that the Southwark Crown Court in London cleared her of the six charges of bribery after five months of trial.

LAIDLAW noted that the trial was brought by the UK’s National Crime Agency, after a years-long investigation concerning alleged offences committed between 2011 and 2015.

DIEZANI was accused of accepting financial or other advantages from individuals linked to two energy companies that had secured contracts with Nigeria’s state-owned petroleum corporation when she was the country’s oil minister.

She was also accused by prosecutors of enjoying a life of luxury funded by those interested in the lucrative oil and gas contracts.

But her defence maintained that records proving her innocence had disappeared and that she could no longer access papers at home in Nigeria, as British police had retained her passport since her first arrest eleven years ago.

The former Nigerian minister had been on bail in Britain since she was first arrested in October 2015, before she was formally charged in 2023 with accepting bribes, which she denied.

Speaking outside the Southwark Court in London soon after the verdict, DIEZANI ALISON-MADUEKE, said the past eleven years has been difficult, not just for her, but her entire family.