- Safiu Kehinde
Former Minister of Petroleum Resources, Diezani Alison-Madueke, has on Monday appeared before the Southwark Crown Court in London, United Kingdom, over her alleged £100,000 bribery charges.
Alison-Madueke had appeared before the court for a preliminary hearing in the case which, according to reports, is heading closer to a full trial.
Justice Thornton presided over the case at Court 8 in what was decribed as part of pre-trial procedures ahead of the substantive hearing scheduled to begin on January 26, 2026.
The ex-minister is facing charges brought by the UK government over allegations that she accepted bribes while serving as Nigeria’s petroleum minister.
She was formally charged by the United Kingdom’s National Crime Agency (NCA) formally which accused her of receiving at least £100,000 in illicit payments in exchange for the award of lucrative oil and gas contracts.
Investigators believe the alleged bribes were part of a wider scheme through which she enriched herself during her time in office.
Following her arrest in the UK, she was granted bail in October 2023 in the sum of £70,000.
However, the Westminster Magistrates Court imposed strict conditions after describing her as a potential flight risk.
The conditions included an 11 p.m. to 6 a.m. curfew, mandatory wearing of an electronic monitoring tag, and the provision of a £70,000 surety before she was allowed to leave the court premises.
Meanwhile, Alison-Madueke had also been at the centre of international asset recovery efforts linked to alleged corruption as the Federal Government, in January 2025, signed an agreement with the United States for the return of $52.88 million recovered from assets associated with her, known as the Galactica assets.
According to the US government, the former minister and her associates used proceeds from allegedly fraudulent oil contracts to purchase luxury properties in California and New York, as well as a 65-metre superyacht named Galactica Star.
In Nigeria, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has similarly pursued properties and funds believed to be connected to her, as part of ongoing anti-corruption investigations.