Former Nigerian oil minister Diezani Alison-Madueke accused of living lavishly on bribes, UK court told
British prosecutors have accused Diezani Alison-Madueke, Nigeria’s former oil minister and the first woman to serve as president of OPEC, of funding a lavish lifestyle with bribes received while in office.
Alison-Madueke, 65, appeared at Southwark Crown Court in London on Tuesday at the opening of her trial, where she faces multiple counts of bribery relating to the period between 2011 and 2015, when she served as minister for petroleum resources under the former Nigerian president Goodluck Jonathan.
Prosecutors told the court that individuals seeking “lucrative oil and gas contracts” with Nigeria’s state-owned petroleum corporation provided Alison-Madueke with “significant financial or other advantages”. They said that, as a minister, she should not have accepted benefits from people doing “extremely lucrative” business with government-owned entities.
The prosecution alleges that Alison-Madueke received bribes from individuals linked to Atlantic Energy and SPOG Petrochemical, companies that were awarded contracts by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation or its subsidiaries.
She is accused of accepting £100,000 in cash, the use of chauffeur-driven cars, a private jet flight to Nigeria, and refurbishment work and staff costs at several London properties. Other allegations include the payment of school fees for her son, luxury goods from retailers such as Harrods and Louis Vuitton, and additional private jet flights.
Alison-Madueke served as president of the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries for a year between 2014 and 2015 and has faced a series of legal proceedings in several jurisdictions, including the United States. In Nigeria, courts ordered the seizure of properties belonging to her, valued at several million dollars, in 2017.
A spokesperson for Nigeria’s Economic and Financial Crimes Commission said the agency still had “some subsisting cases” against her, without providing further details.
She has been on bail since her arrest in London in October 2015 and has denied all charges. In 2023, British authorities formally charged her with accepting bribes.
At the time, the UK’s National Crime Agency said it suspected Alison-Madueke had abused her position and accepted financial rewards in exchange for awarding contracts worth millions of pounds.
Two other defendants, Doye Agama, described by prosecutors as her brother, and Olatimbo Ayinde, are also facing bribery charges linked to the case. Prosecutors said all three had British addresses at the time of the alleged offences.
The judge, Justine Thornton, said she expected the trial to conclude by 24 April.