The corruption trial of Diezani Alison-Madueke, a former Nigerian minister of petroleum resources and the first woman to serve as president of the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), is set to begin in London on Monday, January 26.
Alison-Madueke, 65, faces five counts of accepting bribes and one count of conspiracy to commit bribery in connection with her tenure as Nigeria’s oil minister between 2010 and 2015, during the administration of former President Goodluck Jonathan.
Prosecutors allege that she accepted “financial or other advantages” from individuals linked to two energy companies between 2011 and 2015. The alleged benefits include the use of several London properties, refurbishment work and staff costs at those properties, furniture, chauffeur-driven vehicles, a private jet flight to Nigeria, and £100,000 ($137,000) in cash.
Further charges allege that Alison-Madueke received additional bribes, including the payment of school fees for her son, luxury goods from high-end retailers such as Harrods and Louis Vuitton, and more private jet flights.
According to the indictment, accepting these benefits amounted to the “improper performance” of her duties as Nigeria’s oil minister.
Alison-Madueke appeared in a London court last week for preliminary proceedings, including technical matters and jury selection, ahead of the trial, which is expected to last between 10 and 12 weeks.
Two other defendants, Doye Agama and Olatimbo Ayinde, are also facing prosecution on bribery charges linked to the case.
The former minister has been on bail since her arrest in London in October 2015 and has consistently denied the allegations against her. In 2023, the UK’s National Crime Agency (NCA) formally charged her with offences relating to the acceptance of bribes.
“We suspect Diezani Alison-Madueke abused her power in Nigeria and accepted financial rewards for awarding multi-million-pound contracts,” the NCA said at the time.
Earlier in 2023, the agency said it had provided evidence to US prosecutors that enabled the recovery of assets worth $53.1 million linked to Alison-Madueke’s alleged corruption. Those assets included luxury properties in California and New York, as well as a 65-metre superyacht, the Galactica Star, according to the US Department of Justice.
Born in 1960 into a well-off family in Port Harcourt, an oil-producing city in southern Nigeria, Alison-Madueke studied architecture in the United Kingdom and the United States before joining the Nigerian subsidiary of oil major Shell.
She later entered politics, serving first as minister of transport in 2007 under the late President Umaru Yar’Adua, and subsequently as minister of mines and steel development. After Jonathan assumed office following Yar’Adua’s death, he appointed her minister of petroleum resources in April 2010. In 2014, she became OPEC’s first female president, a position she held for about a year.