In a major blow to a 13-year U.K. anti-corruption investigation, a London court acquitted on Wednesday former Nigerian Petroleum Resources Minister Diezani Alison-Madueke of all bribery charges.
Following a five-month trial at Southwark Crown Court, the 65-year-old was found not guilty of five counts of accepting bribes and one count of conspiracy to commit bribery. The verdict concludes a long-running probe by the U.K.’s National Crime Agency (NCA) into one of Africa's most prominent political figures.
Alison-Madueke, who served as oil minister from 2010 to 2015 and later chaired the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), was accused of trading lucrative contracts for a lavish London lifestyle. British investigators alleged she received at least 100,000 British pounds ($136,525) in cash, alongside private jet flights, luxury goods, and property upkeep from wealthy oil executives.
During the trial, which began in January, she portrayed herself as a strict enforcer of rules who was nicknamed “Madam Due Process.” She told the court she never sought or accepted bribes, maintaining that she advised the businessmen on interior design and that many luxury purchases were not for her.
She also testified that Nigerian ministers were barred from holding foreign bank accounts while serving overseas, prompting her to rely on wealthy associates to cover living expenses, and argued these funds were always reimbursed in Nigeria, but records proving the repayments had been seized from her home in Abuja and were never produced by authorities.
Alison-Madueke’s defense team argued the lengthy delay in bringing the case to court was unjust, asserting that critical documents demonstrating her innocence had gone missing in Nigeria. Former President Goodluck Jonathan provided a statement to the court supporting her case, confirming that third parties frequently paid for transport and accommodation for ministers on official business overseas.
The jury also acquitted Alison-Madueke's co-defendants. Her 69-year-old brother, Doye Agama, an archbishop at a Pentecostal church in Manchester, was cleared of conspiracy to commit bribery. Oil industry executive Olatimbo Ayinde, 54, was found not guilty of bribery after her defense argued she had been working as an informant for Nigerian authorities to expose corruption, encouraged by security services to "play along."
The London proceedings unfolded alongside broader, ongoing legal and asset-recovery efforts globally. In 2017, Nigerian prosecutors filed separate money-laundering charges against her, alleging payments to influence election officials ahead of the 2015 vote.
Additionally, the U.S. Justice Department previously recovered more than $53 million in allegedly corruption-linked oil proceeds laundered through the U.S. In 2025, the U.S. and Nigeria announced an agreement to repatriate an additional $52.88 million in forfeited assets linked to an investigation associated with Alison-Madueke and her alleged associates.
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