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UK agency gets court order on N8.05m allegedly seized from Alison-Madueke

By Tunde Oyedoyin, London and Abosede Musari, Abuja
06 October 2015   |   3:28 am
THE United Kingdom National Crime Agency (NCA) was yesterday granted six months to hold the sum of £27,000 (N8.05m) allegedly seized from former Petroleum Minister.
Diezani

Allison-Madueke

No plans to charge her

THE United Kingdom National Crime Agency (NCA) was yesterday granted six months to hold the sum of £27,000 (N8.05m) allegedly seized from former Petroleum Minister, Mrs Diezani Alison- Madueke, when she was arrested with four other people on Friday.

Speaking exclusively to The Guardian yesterday afternoon, a spokeswoman for the City of Westminster Magistrate Court said: “I can confirm that an application for the continued holding of cash till April 6, next year was granted this morning,” while inquiring if the 59-year old former minister was charged at the Marylebone road court.

Asked how much the cash in question is, she replied, “27,000.” Do you mean £27,000, The Guardian asked and she answered, “Yes, £27,000.”

When asked if the former minister herself was in court for the application, the woman said: “We are on the first floor and the courtroom where the application was heard is on the fourth floor, so I can’t say whether she was there or not.”

Later, The Guardian contacted the National Crime Agency, NCA, and when asked if the former minister and those arrested with her were present in court, a press officer of the agency said: “We cannot comment on any individual cases, until the people have actually been charged.”

When asked if the NCA has any plan to sooner or later charge the individuals who were arrested on Friday, he replied: “We have not scheduled any charges.”

Earlier yesterday morning, The Guardian, alongside other world renowned media organisations, waited for about four hours in front of the Charing Cross Police Station, but the former petroleum minister didn’t show up as anticipated.

At about 9.05, The Guardian went inside the police station, to ask the two policewomen at the front desk if the former minister was being expected.

After one of them asked: “Who is she?” And the policewoman was told that Alison-Madueke is a former petroleum minister of Nigeria, she said: “We have been instructed not to say anything to anyone.”

Though the media siege attracted a lot of attention, with members of the public asking members of the press, the identity of who was being expected, there was no sighting of the former minister from 8.40 a.m. till 12.05, when The Guardian left.

10 Comments

  • Author’s gravatar

    Cameron Government is playing Buhari’s script. Lets wait and see.

  • Author’s gravatar

    playing hide and seek. time to show up will come

  • Author’s gravatar

    Even before the ministerial appointment she was worth much more, so why ado about nothing

  • Author’s gravatar

    THESE THIEVES WILL BE VERY FAST TO MAKE THE REFUNDS IN THE UK COURTS, BECAUSE THEY KNOW THEY ARE CROOKS AND THIEVES AND LONG ARM OF THE UK JUSTICE WILL NOT SPARE THEM.

    THESE SHAMELESS CROOKS WILL NEVER BE CAUGHT IN NIGERIA AS THE NIGERIAN JUSTICE SYSTEM IS RIDDLED WITH CORRUPT JUDGES AND JUSTICES WHOSE OWN WEALTH NEEDS TO BE PROBED BY THE ATTORNEY GENERAL OF THE FEDERATION OF NIGERIA.

    THE TRUTH OF THE MATTER IS THAT ALL PAST MINISTERS, THE TWO HOUSES OF PARLIAMENT, GOVERNORS ETC ARE NOTHING BUT THIEVES AND FRAUDSTERS EACH OF WHOM HAS FRAUDULENTLY STOLEN HUNDREDS OF BILLIONS OF NAIRA FROM THE NATIONAL TREASURY AND ARE YET STEALING UNABATED.

  • Author’s gravatar

    Buhari and UK (Cameron) are not happy with LOCAL CONTENT in the nigerian Oil and gas exploration/industry. Deziani was emphatic, infact patriotic enough to introduce LOCAL CONTENT (participation of nigerians) in what had become exclusively BP/CHEVRON etc, etc. domain. Here, ABOKIS and their British masters carried out the most extensive corruption regime in history which Deziani stopped. Under Deziani, nigerians not foreigners, made fortunes in oil and gas business. Buhari, Boko Haram leader is trying to rubbish Deziani reputation and patriotism with the assistance of racist Britain.
    What is 27.000 pounds ? Most students of affluent parents (corrupt Abokis ) spend double that amount in London discos.in a night. Shameless PMB.

  • Author’s gravatar

    While not playing a legal defence lawyer for Ms. Alison-Madueke, suffice to say, that she has contributed immensely to the astronomical growth of the Nigerian economy by:-
    (a) successfully formulating the Nigerian Local Contents Bill (LCB) and getting it passed in the Nigerian National Assembly (NASS) as an act; the Local Content Act (LCA). Which is why presently there are so many Nigerian oil companies operating both in the down- and up-stream sectors of our economy. Thanks to that great lady! It is a pity, that her 2nd. and most important bill, the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB), which was similarly sent to the same NASS, was ineptly manhandled by certain rogue and enemies-of-progress Senators of the then opposition APC party, who simply hid that all-important bill under their mattresses /or/ closets at home – to deny the country the maximum progress that bill would have brought; (b) of course she single-handedly reduced the pump-price of fuel (PMS) from a whopping 150 NGN (Naira) to only 87 NGN; even at the eve of
    the hand-over of the previous government of the “clueless one”, GEJ, till this day! Shouldn’t Nigerians learn to be grateful to a very-honest-to-goodness lady; if one may ask? Time will tell. Period.

    • Author’s gravatar

      ….weldone,madueke campaign manager! madueke worked for Nigeria or worked for herself interest? as a minister she was nominated to do what? compared her work done to her looted fund!….looted billion via trillon and the effect of her looting on the nation….tell me who gained and who lost between madueke and Nigeria!

  • Author’s gravatar

    The brouhaha will soon be over the rush to indict and charge while the investigation is still going on, another setback for the prosecutors.The evidence against is as good as to what is presented in court.The burden is on the prosecutors to prove their case. If Buhari administration is betting all on media not having all the facts, we are looking at another mistrial.

  • Author’s gravatar

    What difference carrying twenty seven thousand pounds has to do with this arrest. What is British government up to! To blackmail this woman or wake up useless and redundant Nigeria’s EFCC. Oil thieves like T.Y Danjuma and others have done worst oil wealth looting than this woman. Yeye de smell.

  • Author’s gravatar

    This woman issue, I’m seen it as political, but we are observing.