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Kola Aluko, a Nigerian oil magnate now wanted in the UK for money laundering, has admitted that he paid rent for a high-end apartment for the mother of a former minister of Petroleum Resources, Diezani Alison-Madueke.
Mr. Aluko told the British Sunday Times newspaper that he was responsible for paying rent for Mrs. Beatrice Agama, the former minister’s mother. He also said he ensured that food was brought to the minister’s mother at the St. John’s Wood property. Last month, a UK court approved the confiscation of funds belonging to Mrs. Agama. The court also authorized the seizure of funds belonging to Melanie Spencer, the wife of a Ghanaian oil tycoon, Kevin Okyere, implicated in the money laundering investigation involving the former minister. According to the report in The Sunday Times, “Aluko confirmed a probe over potential violations of the UK Proceeds of Crime Act and Bribery Act but professed his innocence. He said: ‘I’m willing to co-operate with anybody. I have nothing to hide.'"
Mr. Aluko’s Atlantic Energy company is at the center of a reported $6 billion heist from the Nigerian treasury.Mr. Aluko’s statement to the UK newspaper is highly significant because it is the first public admission by the flamboyant and controversial oil tycoon of financial exchanges between him and Mrs. Alison-Madueke. The former Petroleum Minister was arrested last month in London and later granted bail by the anti-corruption unit of the UK National Crime Agency.
Mrs. Alison-Madueke had handpicked Mr. Aluko, who has Swiss citizenship, for lucrative, shady deals in the Nigerian oil sector. Once the deal was inked, Mr. Aluko indulged a passion for glamorous women, including supermodel Naomi Campbell, swanky homes, expensive cars, a yacht and junkets in the world’s glitziest spots where he partied with Hollywood celebrities.
- SR
Mr. Aluko told the British Sunday Times newspaper that he was responsible for paying rent for Mrs. Beatrice Agama, the former minister’s mother. He also said he ensured that food was brought to the minister’s mother at the St. John’s Wood property. Last month, a UK court approved the confiscation of funds belonging to Mrs. Agama. The court also authorized the seizure of funds belonging to Melanie Spencer, the wife of a Ghanaian oil tycoon, Kevin Okyere, implicated in the money laundering investigation involving the former minister. According to the report in The Sunday Times, “Aluko confirmed a probe over potential violations of the UK Proceeds of Crime Act and Bribery Act but professed his innocence. He said: ‘I’m willing to co-operate with anybody. I have nothing to hide.'"
Mr. Aluko’s Atlantic Energy company is at the center of a reported $6 billion heist from the Nigerian treasury.Mr. Aluko’s statement to the UK newspaper is highly significant because it is the first public admission by the flamboyant and controversial oil tycoon of financial exchanges between him and Mrs. Alison-Madueke. The former Petroleum Minister was arrested last month in London and later granted bail by the anti-corruption unit of the UK National Crime Agency.
Mrs. Alison-Madueke had handpicked Mr. Aluko, who has Swiss citizenship, for lucrative, shady deals in the Nigerian oil sector. Once the deal was inked, Mr. Aluko indulged a passion for glamorous women, including supermodel Naomi Campbell, swanky homes, expensive cars, a yacht and junkets in the world’s glitziest spots where he partied with Hollywood celebrities.
- SR
