Former Nigerian petroleum minister Diezani Alison-Madueke has told a London court that she never took bribes and instead “tried to push back on corruption” in a country plagued by it since colonial days.
The 65-year-old testified at Southwark Crown Court on Monday, denying five counts of accepting bribes and one charge of conspiracy to commit bribery in connection with allegations that she benefited from corruption in exchange for granting government contracts.
“I can state categorically that at no point did I ask for, take or receive a bribe of any sort from these persons and did not abuse my office,” Alison-Madueke told the court. “I always sought to act impartially.”
Several Nigerian businessmen are alleged to have bankrolled huge spending sprees, including more than £2 million at luxury store Harrods and £4.6 million on refurbishing homes in London and Buckinghamshire.
But the former minister said the cost of services provided for her during official duties were later repaid by the state-owned Nigerian National Petroleum Company.
“They paid for all my hotels, chauffeurs… to allow me to perform the job that I did,” she said.
She added that a service company was set up in London to handle logistics because the financial structure of the NNPC was in a mess.
In court, Alison-Madueye said she was not aware at the time that one of her chauffeurs had delivered £100,000 in cash to her, adding that the money had nothing to do with her.
The court heard how Alison-Madueke rose quickly through the ranks at Shell, becoming the first senior female executive in its Nigerian operation, despite not wanting to work for the multinational due to its treatment of her father, who had once been a senior employee.
“I found the job uncomfortable to put it mildly,” she said, explaining that her father had once unsuccessfully taken legal action against Shell “for apartheid practice in West Africa.”
She also told the court that as a woman in a “very patriarchal society,” she was “under dire threats of kidnap” and that members of her family had been seized.
Also on trial are oil industry executive Olatimbo Ayinde, 54, who denies one count of bribery, and Alison-Madueke’s brother, former archbishop Doye Agama, 69, who denies conspiracy to commit bribery. The trial continues.
