Diezani Alison-Madueke, former minister of petroleum resources, says she did not solicit or receive bribes, insisting that expenses incurred during her time in office were official and reimbursed by the Nigerian government.
Testifying on Monday at Southwark Crown Court in London,
Alison-Madueke said payments made on her behalf in the United Kingdom (UK) were
tied to her official duties and not personal benefits.
“I can state categorically that at no point did I ask for,
take or receive a bribe of any sort from these persons and did not abuse my
office,” she said, adding, “I always sought to act impartially.”
According to a BBC report, prosecutors alleged that Nigerian
businessmen funded a series of luxury expenses for the former minister,
including more than £2 million spent at Harrods and about £4.6 million used to
refurbish properties in London and Buckinghamshire.
They also claimed she had access to multiple high-end homes,
including properties in Marylebone and multi-million-pound homes overlooking
Regent’s Park.
But Alison-Madueke told the court that such arrangements
were part of official logistics.
She said the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC)
reimbursed the costs, noting that a London-based service company was set up to
manage travel and accommodation due to inefficiencies within the organisation.
“They paid for all my hotels, chauffeurs… to allow me to
perform the job that I did,” she said.
The court heard that the former minister spent five days at
a property in Gerrards Cross during Christmas in 2011 with her family because
her ex-husband required medical care and could not return to Nigeria.
Alison-Madueke also described a separate two-week stay at
the same location, where, according to her, she worked with a group of
officials on a book highlighting the Nigerian president’s support for women.
“I took it upon myself to put together that book to showcase
what he did for women,” she said.
Responding to claims about other properties, Alison-Madueke
said one residence near Regent’s Park was used for “discrete” official
meetings, while another linked to her was “completely gutted” and unusable when
she saw it.
The court also heard that she and her mother stayed in
apartments in St John’s Wood, with rent allegedly paid by Nigerian businessman
Kolawole Aluko.
The former minister said the arrangement was cheaper than
staying in high-end hotels like Savoy and Dorchester, which cost about £2,000 a
night.
She further denied any knowledge of a £100,000 cash delivery
reportedly made by one of her chauffeurs, telling the court that the money had
“nothing to do with” her.
Alison-Madueke also spoke about the pressures she faced
while in office, describing Nigeria as a “very patriarchal society”, saying she
was under “dire threats of kidnap”, with some of her family members seized.
The former minister who became the first female president of
the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) in 2015 is facing five
counts of accepting bribes and one count of conspiracy to commit bribery, all
of which she has denied.
Alison-Madueke is standing trial alongside Olatimbo Ayinde,
an oil executive, and Doye Agama, her brother, on a five-count charge bordering
on accepting bribes. They pleaded not guilty to the charges.
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