Former Nigerian oil minister Diezani Alison-Madueke was found not guilty of six bribery charges by a London jury on Wednesday, after a rare corruption trial of a high-profile former energy official.
The verdicts are a major blow to British authorities, who began their investigation into corruption allegations against Alison-Madueke more than a decade ago.
Alison-Madueke, the first woman to be Nigeria’s minister for petroleum resources between 2010 and 2015 under then-President Goodluck Jonathan, stood trial charged with five counts of accepting bribes and a charge of conspiracy to commit bribery.
Prosecutors alleged Alison-Madueke, 65, was given “a life of luxury” in London from oil and gas industry figures seeking lucrative contracts in Nigeria, which has long grappled with mismanagement and corruption.
But the former minister, who also briefly served as president of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and had long faced allegations of corruption, said she never took any bribes and had no real influence over the awarding of contracts.
Her lawyers argued the spending cited by the prosecution was reimbursed, by the Nigerian state for official business or Alison-Madueke herself for personal expenses, and she gave evidence that she was thought of as “Madame Due Process”.
Following the trial at London’s Southwark Crown Court that began in January, Alison-Madueke was acquitted after more than 46 hours of jury deliberation.
Alison-Madueke’s lawyer said in a statement that she was grateful to the jury, having “unnecessarily endured the ordeal of being separated from her family over 11 years”.
“She is finally allowed to resume her private and public life with her reputation restored and enhanced,” the statement said.
Britain’s National Crime Agency did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Alison-Madueke survived multiple scandals and probes into the state-owned Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation before leaving government when Jonathan was deposed in 2015.
She was also a target of U.S. authorities, which alleged the proceeds of illicitly awarded contracts were laundered through the U.S.
British prosecutors did not allege at Alison-Madueke’s trial that there was evidence she had awarded contracts to those who should not have had them, merely seeking to prove it was “improper” for her to accept benefits.
The U.S. Department of Justice, however, said in 2017 that Alison-Madueke “used her influence to steer lucrative oil contracts” to senior executives who had paid her bribes.
Also on trial was oil industry executive Olatimbo Ayinde, 54, who was charged with one count of bribery relating to Alison-Madueke and a separate count of bribery of a foreign public official.
Alison-Madueke’s brother Doye Agama, 69, was charged with conspiracy to commit bribery with his sister relating to payments made to Agama’s church.
Both Ayinde and Agama denied the charges against them and were also acquitted by the jury.
- Reporting by Sam Tobin; Editing by William James and Bill Berkrot
Source: Reuters