A United Kingdom court has acquitted former Nigerian Minister of Petroleum Resources, Diezani Alison-Madueke, of all bribery-related charges brought against her.
According to Reuters, a jury at Southwark Crown Court, London, on Wednesday found Alison-Madueke not guilty of six counts of bribery and conspiracy to commit bribery.
Alison-Madueke, who served as Nigeria’s Minister of Petroleum Resources between 2010 and 2015 during the administration of former President Goodluck Jonathan, had been accused of accepting bribes from oil and gas industry executives seeking lucrative contracts in Nigeria.
Prosecutors alleged that she was provided with a “life of luxury” in London in return for using her position to influence the award of oil and gas contracts. However, the former minister consistently denied the allegations, maintaining throughout the trial that she neither accepted bribes nor had direct authority over the awarding of government contracts.
After more than 46 hours of deliberation, the jury returned unanimous not-guilty verdicts on all six charges, bringing the high-profile case to a close.
The verdict marks a significant legal victory for the former minister, who has faced multiple corruption-related investigations since leaving office in 2015.
