US RECOVERS $53m FROM ILLEGAL CONTRACTS INVOLVING DIEZANI, OTHERS
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The United States Department of Justice has revealed the final resolution of two civil cases in forfeiture of the luxury assets that were laundered in and through Nigeria in a case involving Diezani Alison-Madueke, a former minister of petroleum resources, and her associates.
According to documents from the department ,Kola Aluko, a Nigerian businessman, and Jide Omokore, chairman of Atlantic Energy Drilling Concepts Nigeria Limited, were Diezani’s associates who were listed in the forfeiture case.
The DOJ said the forfeited assets were the “proceeds of foreign corruption offences”.
The US department of justice in a statement released on its website on Monday, said that “roughly $53.1 million in cash, plus a promissory note with a principal value of $16 million” have been recovered as part of “proceeds of illicitly awarded contracts” involving the trio — Diezeani, Aluko, and Omokore.
“According to court documents, from 2011 to 2015, Nigerian businessmen Kolawole Akanni Aluko and Olajide Omokore conspired with others to pay bribes to Nigeria’s former minister for petroleum resources, Diezani Alison-Madueke, who oversaw Nigeria’s state-owned oil company,” the statement reads.
“In return, Alison-Madueke used her influence to steer lucrative oil contracts to companies owned by Aluko and Omokore. The proceeds of those illicitly awarded contracts totalling more than $100 million were then laundered in and through the United States and used to purchase various assets through shell companies, including luxury real estate in California and New York as well as the Galactica Star, a 65-meter superyacht.
“The real estate was also used as collateral for loans to Aluko and shell companies he controlled. As part of the forfeiture process, those lien holders were paid.”
Diezani was the minister of petroleum resources from 2010 to 2015 during the administration of former president Goodluck Jonathan.
She fled the country prior to the handover of government from Jonathan to President Muhammadu Buhari in 2015.
She is alleged to have stolen $2.5 billion from the Nigerian government but denied the allegations, while the EFCC has since commenced a process to extradite her.
The federal government had gained forfeiture of Diezani’s properties located in Banana Island Foreshore Estate, Ikoyi, Lagos, including 18 flats and six penthouses.
Over the past few years, the trio of Diezani, Aluko, and Omokore have been facing trial over alleged fraud in the procurement of oil contracts and money laundering in Nigeria and the US.
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