A United Kingdom court hearing the case of former Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke, over bribery, has adjourned till November 2025.
The Westminster Magistrates’ Court adjourned hearing on the suit yesterday.
It was reported 63-year-old Alison-Madueke is being tried for allegedly accepting a £100,000 bribe.
On October 2, Michael Snow, the district judge at the Westminster Magistrates’ Court, granted Mrs. Alison-Madueke bail to the tune of £70,000 after judging her ‘a flight risk’.
Before she was granted bail, Snow had put harsh conditions on Mrs. Alison-Madueke, including an 11pm to 6am curfew, and the wearing of an electronic tag at all times.
Mrs. Alison-Madueke and four others were detained in the United Kingdom in October 2015, on suspicion of bribery and money laundering.
The UK’s National Crime Agency (NCA), stated in August 2023, that it suspected Mrs. Alison-Madueke of accepting bribes in exchange for awarding multi-million pound oil and gas contracts.
The NCA said on its website that Mrs. Alison-Madueke ‘is alleged to have benefited from at least £100,000 in cash, chauffeur-driven cars, private jet flights, luxury vacations for her family, and the use of multiple London properties’.
Meanwhile, Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Lateef Fagbemi (SAN), has submitted a warrant of arrest and request to the Crown Prosecution Services of the United Kingdom for the urgent extradition of Mrs. Allison-Madueke.
EFCC, on October 2, hinted that it begun the process of extraditing Mrs. Alison-Madueke to Nigeria over 13-count charges of money laundering levelled against her.
The commission also said the money laundering charges covered jurisdictions in Dubai, the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom, the United States of America, and Nigeria.
The EFCC alleged that the former minister stole $2.5 billion from the Nigerian government while she was a minister from 2010 to 2015.
