Diezani appears in London court for ‘£100,000 bribery’ trial
Diezani Alison-Madueke, Nigeria’s former minister of petroleum resources, has appeared before the Southwark Crown Court in London for a preliminary hearing in her ongoing bribery case.
The matter was heard on Monday in Court 8 before Justice Thornton, marking the first step ahead of a full trial scheduled to begin on January 26, 2026. Alison-Madueke was formally charged in August 2023 by UK authorities over allegations that she accepted a £100,000 bribe.
According to the United Kingdom’s National Crime Agency (NCA), investigators believe the former minister received bribes in exchange for awarding lucrative oil and gas contracts worth several million pounds while she was in office.
Alison-Madueke served as Nigeria’s minister of petroleum resources between 2010 and 2015 under the administration of former President Goodluck Jonathan. In 2014, she also made history by becoming the first woman elected as president of the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC).
In October 2023, a Westminster Magistrates’ Court granted her bail in the sum of £70,000 after prosecutors argued that she posed a flight risk. The court imposed strict bail conditions, including a nightly curfew from 11 p.m. to 6 a.m., continuous electronic monitoring, and the payment of a £70,000 surety before her release.
Separately, in January 2025, the Nigerian government and the United States signed an agreement for the return of $52.88 million recovered from assets linked to Alison-Madueke, known as the Galactica assets.
US authorities previously alleged that Alison-Madueke and her associates used proceeds from illicitly awarded oil contracts to acquire luxury properties in California and New York, as well as a 65-metre superyacht, the Galactica Star.
