Diezani Alison-Madueke, Nigeria’s former minister of petroleum resources, has appeared at the Westminster Magistrates Court in the UK over an alleged £100,000 bribe.
The district judge granted her bail in the sum of £70,000 but imposed conditions including an 11 pm to 6 am curfew, an electronic tag to be worn at all times, and a £70,000 surety to be paid before she could leave the court building.
Her next court appearance will be at Southwark Crown Court on October 30.
In August, the UK’s National Crime Agency (NCA) said they suspected Alison-Madueke had accepted bribes in return for awarding multi-million-pound oil and gas contracts.
The charges detail financial rewards including cash, cars, flights on private jets, luxury holidays, and the use of multiple London properties, among other things.
The NCA also provided evidence to the US department of justice that enabled them to recover assets totaling USD $53.1 million linked to Alison-Madueke’s alleged corruption in March.
Alison-Madueke 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 Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) alleged that the former minister stole $2.5 billion from the Nigerian government while in office.