The US department of
justice has announced the final resolution of two civil cases seeking the
forfeiture of the luxury assets that were laundered in and through the country
in a case involving Diezani Alison-Madueke, former minister of petroleum
resources, and her associates.
Diezani’s associates who were named in the forfeiture case
are Kola Aluko, a Nigerian businessman, and Jide Omokore, chairman of Atlantic
Energy Drilling Concepts Nigeria Limited.
The department said the forfeited assets were the “proceeds
of foreign corruption offenses”.
In a statement released on its website on Monday, the US department of justice disclosed that “roughly $53.1 million in cash, plus a promissory note with a principal value of $16 million” have been recovered as part of “proceeds of illicitly awarded contracts” involving the trio — Diezeani, Aluko, and Omokore.
“According to court
documents, from 2011 to 2015, Nigerian businessmen Kolawole Akanni Aluko and
Olajide Omokore conspired with others to pay bribes to Nigeria’s former
minister for petroleum resources, Diezani Alison-Madueke, who oversaw Nigeria’s
state-owned oil company,” the statement reads.
“In return, Alison-Madueke used her influence to steer
lucrative oil contracts to companies owned by Aluko and Omokore. The proceeds
of those illicitly awarded contracts totaling more than $100 million were then
laundered in and through the United States and used to purchase various assets
through shell companies, including luxury real estate in California and New
York as well as the Galactica Star, a 65-meter superyacht.
“The real estate was also used as collateral for loans to
Aluko and shell companies he controlled. As part of the forfeiture process,
those lien holders were paid.”
BACKGROUND
Diezani was the minister of petroleum resources from 2010 to
2015 during the administration of former president Goodluck Jonathan.
Shortly before Jonathan handed over to President Muhammadu
Buhari in 2015, she left the country.
The former minister is alleged to have stolen $2.5 billion
from the Nigerian government while she was a minister.
She has, however, denied the allegations, while the EFCC has since commenced a
process to extradite her.
The federal government had gained forfeiture of Diezani’s
properties located in Banana Island Foreshore Estate, Ikoyi, Lagos, including
18 flats and six penthouses.
Over the past few years, the trio of Diezani, Aluko, and
Omokore have been facing trial over alleged fraud in the procurement of oil
contracts and money laundering in Nigeria and US.
In 2017, the
US government filed a suit to recover $144 million in assets that were
purportedly acquired with proceeds from a shady scheme in Nigeria’s oil
industry.
Aluko and Omokore were said to have paid bribes between 2011
and 2015 to Diezani in exchange for contracts.
Diezani reportedly used her position to secure contracts for
Aluko and Omokri’s shell companies through a subsidiary of the defunct Nigerian
National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) — now the Nigerian National Petroleum
Company (NNPC) Limited.
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