The UK National Crime Agency announced on August 22, 2023 that Diezani Alison-Madueke, the Nigerian Minister for Petroleum Resources between 2010 and 2015, had been charged with bribery offenses. Madueke, who resides in the United Kingdom, has also served as president of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries. She is alleged to have received at least £100,000 in cash, luxury vacations and transportation, school fees for family members, renovations on London real estate, and luxury goods in exchange for the award of lucrative oil and gas contracts. Madueke is scheduled to appear in Westminster Magistrates Court on October 2, 2023.
The charges result from an investigation by the International Corruption Unit of the NCA, in cooperation with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission of Nigeria, and the International Anti-Corruption Coordination Centre hosted by the NCA.
In related proceedings based in part on evidence provided by the NCA, the US Department of Justice resolved two civil cases in March 2023 in which approximately $51.1 million in cash, plus a promissory note valued at $16 million, were recovered. According to the DOJ, two Nigerian businessmen conspired to pay bribes to Madueke in order to secure oil contracts for companies they owned, laundering the proceeds through the United States and using them to purchase real estate in California and New York, and a yacht. The DOJ secured the forfeiture of these assets.
NCA press release | DOJ press release (March 2023)