Alison-Madueke"s brother to face trial for bribery

UK court okays seizure of £27,000

•Hardley Petroleum Solutions Limited
(Believed to be used for money laundering)
•Company registered in Manchester 27/06/2013
•Company dissolved in Manchester 10/02/2013
•Company didn’t file any account when operating
•Directors: Ugonna Madueke, Abu Fari, Somye
Agama and Abiye Agama

Former Minister of Petroleum Resources Mrs Diezani Alison-Madueke is to be arraigned in London with her brothers for alleged bribery and money laundering, it was learnt yesterday.

Diezani-Alison Madueke

Investigations by our correspondent in the United Kingdom showed that she was arrested with her brothers Abiye Agama and Somye Agama.

They are directors of Hadley Petroleum Solutions Limited, a company the authorities believe to have been used for money laundering. The other directors are Ugonna Madueke and Abu Fari.

The company was registered in June 2013 in Manchester, but was dissolved less than two years later in February this year without filing any account.

Abiye, 33, a point man of the firm, is a computer engineer and manager. He was a director in 11 other companies. He resigned from seven of them.

The United Kingdom’s National Crime Agency (NCA) last week arrested Mrs Alison-Madueke and five others as part of the investigation into allegations of bribery and money laundering. They were granted bail.

It could not be ascertained why the former minister was not arraigned.

But she had previously denied any wrongdoing when it was alleged that $20 billon of oil money had gone missing when she was in office between 2010 and 2015

However, a London (Westminster Magistrate’s Court) on Marylebone Road yesterday approved the seizure of $41,000 (£27,000) cash from her.

The seizure of the cash followed an application brought by the NCA under the Proceeds of Crime Act in the UK.

The court ruled that the money can be held for six months.

There was confusion earlier in the day that Mrs Alison-Madueke had appeared in court. However, it turned to be incorrect. She was not taken to court and had not been charged with any offence.

President Muhammadu Buhari has pledged to curb corruption, saying “mind-boggling” sums were stolen during the Jonathan administration.

The NCA leads UK law enforcement’s fight to cut serious and organised crime. It has national and international reach and the mandate and powers to work in partnership with other law enforcement organisations to bring the full weight of the law to bear on serious and organised criminals.

The Proceeds of Crime Act says “The Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 (“POCA”) sets out the legislative scheme for the recovery of criminal assets with criminal confiscation being the most commonly used power.

“Confiscation occurs after a conviction has taken place. Other means of recovering the proceeds of crime which do not require a conviction are provided for in the Act, namely civil recovery, cash seizure and taxation powers.

“The aim of the asset recovery schemes in POCA is to deny criminals the use of their assets, recover the proceeds of crime and disrupt and deter criminality.

“Since 2010, more than £746 million of criminal assets has been seized (to 2013/14) across all four methods of recovery – a record amount.

“Over the same period, assets worth more than £2.5 billion have been frozen denying criminals access to these resources and £93 million has been returned to victims,” said a factsheet.

Alison-Madueke"s brother to face trial for bribery

Alison-Madueke: EFCC questions ex-NNPC chiefs

Anti-graft investigators with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission are currently interrogating a former managing director of one of the subsidiaries of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation and three former executive directors of the oil corporation under ex-Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke.

EFCC Chairman, Ibrahim Lamorde

The four are said to be under investigation by officials of the Subsidy Unit of the EFCC and their counterparts from the National Crime Agency of the United Kingdom in relation to the former minister’s case.

The PUNCH learnt on Sunday that the ex-NNPC MD and the three former EDs had already been directed to be reporting to investigators.

The four were said to be “very close” to Alison-Madueke while in office.

An EFCC source said the ex-minister might appear in court on Monday (today).

“The man has been sacked now. He has been reporting to the EFCC since. Even three former executive directors are also reporting to the EFCC to tell the agency what they know about the NNPC funds,” a top official of the anti-graft agency said.

Check however indicated that the former MD being investigated was not among the oil barons that were picked up in the UK for alleged complicity in the money laundering case against the former minister.

It was further gathered that security agents were also probing an estranged ally of the former minister and two others in the UK.

The UK authorities have been keeping the identities of the affected people in line with their practice of keeping the identities of those arrested until they are taken to court.

Our correspondents could not get the Head of Media and Publicity of the EFCC, Mr. Wilson Uwujaren, on Sunday as calls to his mobile telephone line indicated that it had been switched off.

But a top operative of the EFCC said on Sunday that the EFCC investigation into the activities of the NNPC was not just about Alison-Madueke.

The source said that more people could be grilled in relation to the probe of the corporation.

The source added that the UK Police, which had been monitoring the former minister for close to two years, had “something substantial” before moving against her.

Meanwhile, a former Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Alhaji Abubakar Tsav, while speaking on the recent arrest and bail of Alison-Madueke, dismissed insinuations that the President Muhammadu Buhari administration was out to settle political scores.

Tsav, who spoke on the telephone with one of our correspondents, noted that the former minister lived like she was above the law.

Tsav cited Alison Madueke’s refusal to appear before the National Assembly to answer charges of malfeasance levelled against her as evidence of her “arrogance” and disdain for the legislature and the country’s laws.

He said, “When (ex-President Goodluck) Jonathan was still in power, the National Assembly invited her several times to answer questions on some of these issues but she never honoured any of the invitations.

“Even when the former governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, now Emir of Kano, Lamido Sanusi, made the allegations that US$20bn was not accounted for; she refused to appear before the National Assembly.”

Tsav said Nigeria had had the privilege of having credible women such as Gambo Sawaba, Margaret Ekpo and Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti, who fought for the good of society and wondered why it had become increasingly difficult to replicate their outstanding performances.

He described as embarrassing the fact that Nigeria still depended almost completely on the British police and its criminal justice system to bring our corrupt public officials to book, 55 years after our independence.

According to him, corruption is more than anything else responsible for the inability of our criminal justice system and our anti-graft agencies to act decisively over the past few years.

Tsav said, “Our anti-corruption agencies in Nigeria are not effective, apparently because there is too much political interference.

“In the case of (ex-Delta State Governor James) Ibori for instance, they found him not guilty in Nigeria but he was arrested, prosecuted and convicted in the UK.

“These agencies are either corrupt themselves or their activities are being interfered with by politicians. But I would rather believe that they themselves are corrupt and they are not willing to perform their duties very well.”

Alison-Madueke: EFCC questions ex-NNPC chiefs

EFCC recovers millions from ex-minister, Diezani’s home

There were indications, yesterday, that a former Petroleum Minister, Diezani Allison-Madueke, arrested and released in the United Kingdom, on Friday, on money laundering allegations, may be charged to court, this week.

And feelers showed that she will not be the only person in the dock.

Alison Madueke

Sunday Vanguard learnt that besides the four other persons arrested with the former minister, more suspects may also be arraigned.

Meanwhile, Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) detectives, who raided the Abuja home of Allison-Madueke, just at about the time of her arrest in the UK, on Friday, reportedly recovered cash running into millions of Naira.

The trial is expected to be conducted in London and is likely to draw thousands of Nigerians resident in the United Kingdom (UK) but no date was specified, last night, when Sunday Vanguardmade contacts with the National Crime Agency (NCA), which arrested and released Diezani and  the four others on Friday.

An official of the NCA gave indication of the trial in a telephone chat  but pointed out that the identities of all the suspects would only be unveiled at the point of charging them to court.

The official explained that the law establishing the NCA does not allow it to name those being investigated before charging them to court.

The official said: “Indeed we cannot name the five persons who were arrested and granted police conditional bail until we are ready to charge them to court.

“The law does not permit us to do so and we will release appropriate information to the media as the case progresses”.

But it was learnt from sources close to the British government that the NCA might have concluded arrangements to arraign Diezani and other suspects believed to be mostly Nigerian oil business men, suspected to have aided and abetted money laundering while the former minister was in office.

One of the sources said the British Government started investigating Diezani as early as 2013 following sustained allegations of financial wrongdoings at home and abroad, leveled against her and some officials of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC.

In the meantime, a team of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) operatives, which raided the Abuja home of the former minister in Asokoro, Abuja, was said to have recovered cash running into millions of Naira from the place.

But a source close to the operation said only N1.2 million was recovered.

The security agents, who stormed the home, on Frederick Chiluba Street, Asokoro, in six vehicles, reportedly gained access to the expansive mansion with the aid of some former security aides of the embattled former minister.

The team allegedly gained access to the well fortified house using one of the windows.

Reports said Diezani had not been sighted near the palatial home since leaving office in May but had been staying in the United Kingdom, where she reportedly sought medical attention over an undisclosed ailment.

In updated information on its website, yesterday, the NCA disclosed that investigation of the suspects was initiated in 2013 by the Proceeds of Corruption Unit, which transferred the matter to it early this year.

The agency said that the suspects were merely granted what it called “conditional police bail” pending further investigation to be conducted in the UK and overseas.

It was learnt that the EFCC, which has a working pact with UK anti-corruption agencies, swopped on Diezani’s home and recovered vital documents, which it hopes to use to prosecute her when the trial begins in London.

According to the NCA’s website, the International Corruption Unit (ICU) investigates bribery of foreign public officials by individuals or companies from the UK and money laundering by suspected corrupt foreign officials and their associates.

The ICU also traces and recovers the proceeds of international corruption, support foreign law enforcement agencies with international anti-corruption investigations; engages with government and business to reduce the UK’s exposure to the proceeds of corruption.

It works  to support increased compliance with the Bribery Act 2010 and draws on the specialist support available to it within the NCA, while also working closely with other UK law enforcement agencies and overseas partners.

EFCC recovers millions from ex-minister, Diezani’s home

We started investigating Alison-Madueke since 2013 – UK National Crime Agency

The UK 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.

Diezani-Alison Madueke

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.

We started investigating Alison-Madueke since 2013 – UK National Crime Agency