Diezani gets bail, charged to court

Nigeria’s former minister of petroleum resources, Diezani Alison-Madueke, who was yesterday arrested in London on charges of fraud and corruption has been granted bail, but she is not to leave the country, as her passport has been seized.

She has been charged to court for money laundering and is to report back to the Charing Cross Police station on Monday for questioning.

The former minister was arrested by operatives of the International Corruption Unit (ICU) of the National Crime Agency (NCA) in London, the United Kingdom.

The ICU is mainly responsible for investigating international corruption affecting developing countries.

Investigations revealed that Alison-Madueke was arrested at the instance of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) which had also been probing her in Nigeria discreetly, in connection with alleged mismanagement of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and missing funds in the corporation.

Read also: Diezani Alison-Madueke arrested in London

Immediately she was picked up in the UK, the EFCC was alerted, and operatives of the commission stormed her residence at Frederick Chiluba Avenue, Asokoro, Abuja.

Meanwhile, EFCC operatives also stormed the home of Jide Omokore, one of her business allies while she was the oil minister.

Omokore owns SPOG and Atlantic Energy and is said to be involved in multi-billion dollar oil deals, including kerosene scam that denied Nigeria’s treasury by over $6bn.

It was reported that Omokore’s 9 Turnbull Street home in Ikoyi, Lagos and his Glover Street, Ikoyi office were raided by the EFCC operatives.

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