The National Crime Agency [NCA] on Saturday
said investigation into allegations of
corruption against Nigeria’s former minister of
Petroleum Resources, Diezani Alison-Madueke,
and the four other people arrested Friday had
been on since 2013.
In an update on its website, the NCA said,
“The investigation commenced in 2013 under
the Proceeds of Corruption Unit, and
transferred to the NCA earlier this year.”
Until recently, the Proceeds of Corruption Unit
was domiciled at the Metropolitan Police
Service.
But after the International Corruption Unit was
created at the NCA in line with the UK Anti-
Corruption Plan, the Proceeds of Corruption
Unit at the Metropolitan Police and the
Overseas Anti-Corruption Unit of the City of
London Police were scrapped.
The ICU then became the UK’s prime agency
for the investigation of bribery of foreign
public officials by individuals or companies
from the UK, and money laundering by corrupt
foreign officials and their associates.
In its update Saturday, the NCA also said it
had released the former minister on
“conditional bail”.
The other four unnamed persons arrested with
her were also granted bail.
“All five people arrested were released on
conditional police bail later that evening,
pending further investigation both in the UK
and overseas.”
The conditions of the bail are not immediately
clear.
But people familiar with the matter told
PREMIUM TIMES that Mrs. Alison-Madueke
and her colleagues were barred from travelling
out of the UK pending conclusion of
investigation and their arraignment in court.
One source said the suspects’ travelling
documents were seized, but PREMIUM TIMES
has been unable to independently verify that
as at the time of this report.
The source also said the suspects were also
warned against any attempt to tamper with
evidence.
PREMIUM TIMES had on Friday exclusively
reported the arrest of the former minister,
alongside four others, by the UK agency over
offences related to bribery, corruption and
money laundering.
The identities of the four other people arrested
along with Mrs. Alison-Madueke, could not be
immediately ascertained.
Former minister accused of graft
Mrs. Alison-Madueke, one of the most
influential officials of the President Goodluck
Jonathan administration, was first appointed
into the federal cabinet in 2007.
A former board member of Shell Petroleum
Development Company of Nigeria, she was
later appointed Minister of Transport by
former President Umaru Yar’adua.
In December 2008, she was redeployed to the
mines and steel development ministry.
After former Vice President Goodluck Jonathan
became acting president, Mrs. Alison-Madueke
was appointed Nigeria’s first female petroleum
minister in February 2010, a position Mrs.
Alison-Madueke held till May 29, 2015 when
Mr. Jonathan left office.
Mrs. Alison-Madueke’s tenure as petroleum
minister turned out one of Nigeria’s most
controversial, amid unending allegations of
massive corruption.
Under her watch, dubious oil marketers stole
trillions of naira of oil subsidy money. She
retained her position despite an indictment by
the House of Representatives which
investigated the fuel subsidy scandal.
Probes by independent audit firms, including
the KPMG and PriceWaterhousecoopers,
confirmed that billions of dollars of oil money
were missing. The most notable case of
missing money involved $20billion in 2014, as
alleged by a former Central Bank governor,
Lamido Sanusi.
Several shady deals exposed by PREMIUM
TIMES and confirmed by government and
independent auditors were linked to the former
minister and her cronies.
Long before her stint in the oil and gas sector,
Mrs. Alison-Madueke was investigated by the
Nigerian Senate on allegation she paid N30.9
billion to contractors while she held office as
transportation minister.
In 2009, the Senate indicted and
recommended her prosecution for allegedly
transferring N1.2 billion into a private
account of a toll company without due
process.
Regardless of the indictments, Mrs. Alison-
Madueke got elected in November 2014 as the
first female president of oil producing
countries alliance, OPEC.
The former minister consistently denies
wrongdoing. In June, after leaving office, she
rejected all allegations of embezzlement
saying she never stole from Nigeria.
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