An investigation by SaharaReporters has revealed some of the ways in which former Petroleum Minister, Diezani Alison-Madueke, and her network of accomplices, family members, and shell companies sought to conceal
and launder an astonishing amount of the former minister’s corruptly acquired wealth. The laundered funds are the focus of twin investigations by British and Nigerian anti-corruption agencies.
SaharaReporters learned that British prosecutors decided to be low-key about their investigation of Mrs. Alison-Madueke’s suspicious ownership of real estate assets in the UK because the UK Foreign Office and security establishment did not want to unsettle UK-Nigerian ties by going after the former minister during the administration of former President Goodluck Jonathan.
Two of their sources said that the former Petroleum Minister acquired an astonishing sum of looted funds through shady dealings that included theft of kerosene subsidy payments, manipulation of fuel subsidy payments, so-called swap deals in which she used a number of personal and corporate fronts to sell Nigerian crude oil that was meant to be refined and brought back for local consumption, fraudulent acquisition of marginal oil fields and allocation of other lucrative oil field to fronts.
They further disclosed that Mrs. Alison-Madueke’s most daring fraudulent deals were her strategic partnership agreements with two respective companies officially owned by her most notorious fronts, Jide Omokore and Kola Aluko. The agreements were worth over $6 billion, according to one source. He added that another avenue of money laundering by the former minister was the controversial Malabu deal in which she, former Attorney General, Mohammed Adoke, and President Goodluck Jonathan may have pocketed close to $2 billion between them.
No comments:
Post a Comment