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LequteMan
Guest
The United States government is going after Nigeria's former Petroleum Minister Diezani Alison Madueke.
Madueke's name has come up during investigations of illegal oil deals and money laundering cases in Nigeria, Britain, Italy and the United States. She's also been implicated in fraud, bribery, misuse of public funds and so on after leaving office in 2015.
Although the ex-OPEC Chairman officially denied the allegations, she was recently overheard saying she's ready to expose everything and go to jail along with her pals. (read more about that here. )
Nevertheless, it seems her travails have just started as a US civil forfeiture case to seize $144 million (124 million euros) of assets from allegedly ill-gotten crude contracts has been filed by the US defense department.
This may just be the start of Alison-Madueke’s legal troubles former US State Department Nigeria specialist Matthew Page said.
“Although this is the first attempt by US law enforcement to go after assets allegedly stolen by Diezani and her henchmen, it almost certainly will not be the last,” he told AFP.
Also, Debo Adeniran, of the Coalition Against Corrupt Leaders lobby group, said the latest cases involving Alison-Madueke, Aluko and Omokore could be a “morale booster”.
“Once a conviction is got abroad, the right signal will be sent to all looters that the judgment day has come,” he said.
“The fight against corruption will receive a boost. At last, the chickens are coming home to roost.”
Madueke's name has come up during investigations of illegal oil deals and money laundering cases in Nigeria, Britain, Italy and the United States. She's also been implicated in fraud, bribery, misuse of public funds and so on after leaving office in 2015.
Although the ex-OPEC Chairman officially denied the allegations, she was recently overheard saying she's ready to expose everything and go to jail along with her pals. (read more about that here. )
Nevertheless, it seems her travails have just started as a US civil forfeiture case to seize $144 million (124 million euros) of assets from allegedly ill-gotten crude contracts has been filed by the US defense department.
This may just be the start of Alison-Madueke’s legal troubles former US State Department Nigeria specialist Matthew Page said.
“Although this is the first attempt by US law enforcement to go after assets allegedly stolen by Diezani and her henchmen, it almost certainly will not be the last,” he told AFP.
Also, Debo Adeniran, of the Coalition Against Corrupt Leaders lobby group, said the latest cases involving Alison-Madueke, Aluko and Omokore could be a “morale booster”.
“Once a conviction is got abroad, the right signal will be sent to all looters that the judgment day has come,” he said.
“The fight against corruption will receive a boost. At last, the chickens are coming home to roost.”
