The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has announced that it has obtained an arrest warrant and initiated extradition proceedings for the trial of a former Minister of Petroleum Resources, Diezani Alison-Madueke, in Nigeria.
EFCC made this announcement on Monday in a statement signed by its spokesperson, Dele Oyewale, following the trial of Madueke by a court in the United Kingdom (UK).
“To bring the former Minister to trial in Nigeria, an arrest warrant has been obtained and extradition proceedings have been initiated,” Oyewale said.
“The Commission is on course on her trial. She will soon have her day in our courts.”
Meanwhile, EFCC has welcomed with keen interest the arraignment of Alison-Madueke at the Westminister’s Court in London, United Kingdom, following alleged bribery allegations.
“Although the charges preferred against her at the London court are diametrically different from the 13-count charges bordering on money laundering the EFCC has raised against her, it is instructive to note that criminality is criminality, irrespective of jurisdictional differences,” the commission said.
It added that no crime can go unpunished, and the money laundering charges for which Madueke is answerable to the EFCC cover jurisdictions in Dubai, the United Kingdom, the United States of America (USA), and Nigeria.
A UK court granted the former Nigerian minister for Petroleum Resources bail in the sum of 70,000 pounds.
Madueke, who currently lives in St John’s Wood, London, appeared at Westminster Magistrates Court on Monday after being charged with bribery offences amounting to 100,000 pounds following a National Crime Agency (NCA) investigation.
The district judge, Michael Snow, granted her bail but imposed some other conditions on her after considering her ‘a flight risk’.
Alison-Madueke, aged 63, who also served as president of the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), was a key figure in the Nigerian government between 2010 and 2015.
The NCA suspects she accepted bribes during her time as Minister for Petroleum Resources in exchange for awarding multi-million-pound oil and gas contracts.
Assets worth millions of pounds relating to the alleged offences have already been frozen as part of the ongoing investigation.
Alison-Madueke was arrested in London in 2015, shortly after stepping down as minister, and was charged in August with six bribery offences.
