madueke was cleared by a London court on Wednesday of six bribery charges after a trial at Southwark Crown Court. The verdict ended the case against former Nigerian oil minister Diezani Alison-Madueke, who denied the charges.
The jury took more than 46 hours to reach its decision. Prosecutors had alleged she lived a life of luxury in London from oil and gas industry figures seeking big contracts for Nigeria.
Southwark Crown Court
The court acquitted Alison-Madueke of five counts of accepting bribes and one count of conspiracy to commit bribery. British authorities had started investigating corruption allegations against her more than 10 years ago, turning a long-running inquiry into a full trial in London.
Alison-Madueke was not the only defendant before the court. Olatimbo Ayinde, an oil industry executive, faced one count of bribery and one separate count of bribery of a foreign public official. Doye Agama, her brother, was charged with conspiracy to commit bribery related to payments made to Agama church.
Ayinde and Agama
Ayinde and Agama both denied the charges against them and were also acquitted. That leaves no bribery convictions from the case heard in London, including for the former minister who once led Nigeria’s petroleum ministry and later became the first female president of Opec at the 166th Opec Ordinary Meeting in Vienna on 27 November 2014.
For Alison-Madueke, the immediate consequence is straightforward: the London case that had followed her for years has ended in acquittal on all six counts. For Ayinde and Agama, the court reached the same outcome after a jury deliberation that lasted more than 46 hours.
