A former Minister of Petroleum Resources, Diezani Alison-Madueke, has been acquitted of all six bribery charges brought against her following a high-profile trial at Southwark Crown Court in London.
Alison-Madueke, who served as Nigeria’s Minister of Petroleum Resources from 2010 to 2015 under former President Goodluck Jonathan, had faced five counts of accepting bribes and one count of conspiracy to commit bribery.
She pleaded not guilty to all the charges.
Prosecutors alleged that the former minister received luxury benefits in London from oil and gas industry executives seeking lucrative contracts in Nigeria.
However, Alison-Madueke maintained throughout the trial that she neither accepted bribes nor exercised direct influence over the award of government contracts.
After more than 46 hours of deliberation, the jury returned unanimous not-guilty verdicts on all six counts, bringing the trial to a close.
The case also involved oil industry executive Olatimbo Ayinde, who was charged with bribery offences linked to Alison-Madueke, and her brother, Doye Agama, who faced a conspiracy to commit bribery charge relating to alleged payments made to his church.
Both Ayinde and Agama denied the allegations and were also acquitted by the court.
The verdict concludes a long-running investigation by British authorities into corruption allegations involving the former minister, which began more than a decade ago.
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