Nigerian court on Monday seized $21 million from
bank accounts linked to a former Petroleum Minister, Diezani Alison-Madueke,
accused of corruption as investigators continue to claw back her fortune.
Federal high court judge, Justice Abdulazeez Anka,
ordered the immediate forfeiture of N7.6 billion ($21 million, 17.9 million
euros) allegedly held in local bank accounts by
Alison-Madueke, who was once one of Africa’s most prominent female
politicians.
Nigeria’s anti-graft Economic and Financial Crimes
Commission (EFCC), which accuses Alison-Madueke of corruption, argued in court
that she had illicitly laundered the funds with the help of top oil officials.
Since leaving office in 2015, Alison-Madueke has
been implicated in bribery, fraud, misuse of public funds and money laundering
cases in Nigeria, Britain, Italy and the United States.
The former President of the global oil cartel, OPEC,
the first female to hold the post, Alison-Madueke, has always denied the
allegations which involve billions of dollars syphoned from oil deals and state
accounts.
The ruling followed two applications by the EFCC
which earlier this month successfully seized properties worth $44 million that she
allegedly purchased with the proceeds of corruption.
President Muhammadu Buhari, elected in 2015 on an
anti-corruption platform, is seeking to stamp-out Nigeria’s widespread graft,
therefore all the corrupt politicians are being trail by the anti-graft commission.
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