Investigators from the United Kingdom are now in Nigeria to gather further evidence in the probe of Diezani Alison-Madueke, former minister of petroleum resources, who has been standing trial for money laundering.
It was learnt that the detectives, who met with officials of the Nigerian anti-graft agency, EFCC have been sniffing around the country for a week in what appeared to be a final lap of the investigation.
“It is a major case the National Crime Agency (NCA) in the UK has been collaborating with the EFCC to probe,” The Nation newspaper quoted a source as saying.
“A few weeks ago, EFCC Chairman, Mr. Ibrahim Magu, was also in London to compare notes with similar agencies on this case. You will recall that Magu in November 2018 made it clear that Nigeria was tired of waiting for the trial of Diezani by the UK.
“But after the initial issues between EFCC and UK agencies, there were talks which revealed that those at the London end were making painstaking investigations.
“After Magu’s visit to London, the investigation of Diezani assumed enhanced dimension because some grey areas were cleared.
“The coming of the detectives from London was meant to fill some gaps, get additional evidence and crosscheck a few findings on their part.”
The source added that the mutual assistance in criminal matters bill, 2019, signed into law recently by President Muhammadu Buhari, might help in confiscating Diezani’s assets at home and abroad.
“The new law will certainly assist the EFCC and other security agencies in bringing some of these looters to justice,” the source said, adding that the law will hasten EFCC’s action on Diezani and suspicious assets traced to her.
In November, the EFCC had started a process to extradite the former minister, and the following month, the international police issued an arrest warrant for her following a request by the federal government.
The ex-minister was arrested in October 2, 2015, for humonguos corruption she perpetrated in the oil sector and her trial has been restricted to the UK with her probe costing fortunes.
The EFCC at the moment, has traced N47.2 billion and $487.5 million to her.
The agency also claimed that Diezani has N23,446,300,000 and $5 million (about N1.5 billion) in various Nigerian banks.
The anti-graft commission has also secured final forfeiture orders on the following assets of Diezani: about $37.5 million Banana Island property; Heritage Court Estate, Plot 2C, Omerelu Street, Diobu Port Harcourt; 135 Awolowo Road/ Plot 808 Awolowo Road, Ikoyi; and 7, Hurnburn Street and 5, Raymond Street, Yaba, Lagos.
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