Diezani Alison-Madueke, a former Nigerian minister of petroleum resources, was cleared of all bribery allegations in a high-profile corruption trial in the United Kingdom.
On Wednesday, June 17, a jury at Southwark Crown Court in London found the 65-year-old not guilty on six counts, including one act of conspiracy to commit bribery and five counts of accepting bribes. Throughout the trials, Alison-Madueke had continuously refuted every accusation.
Prosecutors claimed that during her tenure as Nigeria’s petroleum minister under former President Goodluck Jonathan from 2010 to 2015, Alison-Madueke benefited greatly from prominent members of the oil and gas sector looking for lucrative contracts in Nigeria. The prosecution claims that in return for her influence over the awarding of energy contracts, she was given what was called “a life of luxury” in London.
Alison-Madueke, however, insisted that she never took bribes and that she had no direct control over how government contracts were distributed. The jury deliberated for over 46 hours before returning unanimous not-guilty verdicts on each of the six accusations.
For British authorities, who started looking into the former minister’s charges over ten years ago, the acquittal is a major blow. In addition, Alison-Madueke was the first female president of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC).
Additionally, two co-defendants were exonerated. Olatimbo Ayinde, a 54-year-old oil sector executive, was acquitted on one count of bribery pertaining to Alison-Madueke and another count of bribing a foreign public official.
In a same vein, the jury cleared Doye Agama, 69, Alison-Madueke’s brother, of conspiracy to commit bribery in relation to payments purportedly made to his church. One of the most carefully followed corruption cases involving a former senior Nigerian government official in the UK comes to an end with the verdict.