Former Nigerian oil minister Diezani Alison Madueke has been cleared of all bribery charges by a jury at Southwark Crown Court in London, bringing an end to a high profile trial that lasted five months.
The 65 year old, who served as Nigeria’s minister of petroleum resources from 2010 to 2015 under former President Goodluck Jonathan, was found not guilty on five counts of accepting bribes and one count of conspiracy to commit bribery. Jurors reached unanimous not guilty verdicts after more than 46 hours of deliberations.
Britain’s National Crime Agency charged Alison Madueke in 2023, alleging she received £100,000 in cash, private jet travel, chauffeur driven cars, luxury accommodation and high end shopping benefits from people linked to oil and gas companies seeking business opportunities in Nigeria. She denied all the allegations.
During the trial, Alison Madueke insisted she never sought or accepted bribes and always acted impartially while in office. Her defence argued that she had no direct authority to award lucrative government contracts and told the court that some gifts reflected Nigeria’s culture of gift giving rather than corrupt intent.
Alison Madueke also served as the first female president of OPEC in 2014, becoming one of the most prominent figures in the global oil industry.
Her brother, Doye Agama, was also acquitted of conspiracy to commit bribery, while Nigerian oil executive Olatimbo Ayinde was cleared of two bribery charges linked to the case.
The verdict marks a major setback for British prosecutors after an investigation that spanned more than a decade into allegations of corruption linked to Nigeria’s oil sector.
