DIEZANI WAS A RUBBER STAMP, SAYS LAWYER TO UK COURT
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Jonathan Laidlaw, who represents Diezani Alison-Madueke, a former Nigerian minister of petroleum resources, said his client did not really have any real power in deciding who got oil contracts while she was in office.
Laidlaw told the jury at the Southwark crown court in London, UK, on Thursday, that Alison-Madueke was just going along with the official decisions and wasn’t making the actual choices.
Alison-Madueke was minister of petroleum resources from 2010 to 2015 during the administration of then-president Goodluck Jonathan.
She is going to court for five charges related to taking bribes. She said she is not guilty.
On Tuesday, British prosecutors said in court that the former minister accepted bribes, which included luxury items and the use of expensive homes, from people in the industry.
Alexandra Healy, a prosecutor, told the jury that Alison-Madueke lived a luxurious life in London, which was made possible by people who wanted to get oil contracts in Nigeria.
Alison-Madueke’s lawyer said his client’s role as minister meant she signed off on oil and gas contracts which were awarded by the federal government, According to Reuters
He told the jury to ask whether Alison-Madueke had “any ability to exercise influence upon who would be awarded these contracts or … was she effectively a rubber stamp, stamping the recommendations that her civil servants made”.
The lawyer said purchases were made on behalf of his client “because Nigerian ministers are forbidden from having bank accounts abroad”.
The counsel said personal expenses incurred during foreign trips were repaid by Alison-Madueke in Nigeria and expenses relating to official business were “reimbursed from government coffers”.
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