… Describes 13-yr NCA probe as painful, traumatic
By Nkiruka Nnorom
Former Minister of Petroleum Resources, Diezani Alison-Madueke, said the UK authorities destroyed her reputation in a failed prosecution that left her traumatic, after she was cleared of bribery charges at Southwark Crown Court on Wednesday.
Speaking in an interview with the BBC, the 65 year old said the 13 year investigation by the UK’s National Crime Agency, NCA, “could have been handled a lot differently.”
“I’ve not been allowed to travel. I’ve not been allowed to work. They destroyed my reputation and my integrity,” she said.
The court found her not guilty of five counts of accepting bribes and conspiracy to commit bribery following a trial that began in 2023.
Alison-Madueke served as Nigeria’s oil minister between 2010 and 2015 and was the first female president of OPEC, said: “When your freedom is taken away from you…it has a very deep impact upon you psychologically.
“I knew that I had never done anything nefarious and I had never done any of the heinous things I was being accused of doing,” she added.
Alison-Madueke was first arrested in 2015 but not charged until 2023. Prosecutors alleged she received kickbacks from oil tycoons with government contracts, including £2 million worth of goods from Harrods, chauffeur-driven cars, and the use of properties in London and Buckinghamshire.
Her defence team argued during the trial that vital documents proving her innocence had gone missing in Nigeria.
She said yesterday in the interview that the items included receipts showing the oil tycoons had been reimbursed for payments made on her behalf.
“Those items were taken away by our intelligence forces” from my home in Abuja in 2015, she said, adding that she had no idea what happened to them.
Former President Goodluck Jonathan, who appointed her, wrote to the court stating that third parties often paid for transport and accommodation for ministers on overseas business.
Asked who she holds responsible, Alison-Madueke said: “There’s a bit of blame everywhere.”
“The Nigerian authorities need to look into the processes and practices that they deploy in these cases,” she added.
She accused the NCA of targeting her because she was “low-hanging fruit,” saying the agency ignored her efforts to tackle corruption in the oil sector and the powerful enemies she made as Nigeria’s first female petroleum minister.
“The long arm of the law when you go into other countries, particularly in politically motivated cases, needs to have a lot more sensitivity,” she said.
The NCA said it conducted “a long-running, in depth and complex investigation which was regularly reviewed throughout its duration by CPS and the investigators.” It added that the case was carried out with impartiality and that it respected the jury’s decision.
Alison-Madueke’s older brother, Archbishop Doye Agamas, 69, was also acquitted of conspiracy to commit bribery. Oil executive Olatimbo Ayinde, 54, was found not guilty of bribery and bribery of a foreign public official, despite having acted as an informant for Nigerian anti-corruption authorities.
The US Justice Department in 2023 recovered $53 million in assets from two oil tycoons named in the case, saying Alison-Madueke used her influence to steer contracts to their companies.
She said she was never charged in that matter and insisted the contracts followed due process.
Nigeria’s Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, said in 2022 it had recovered about $153 million and over 80 properties linked to her. Alison-Madueke said the forfeited assets were not directly traced to her and that she would now seek clarity on the matter.
