The United States of America has given the details
of how a former Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke,
allegedly laundered about $144m, using part of the funds to purchase a yacht,
landed properties, furniture and artworks.
According to the US, while she held sway as the
Nigerian petroleum minister, Diezani, who was otherwise known as “the Madam” or
“Madam D,” led “a lavish and privileged lifestyle,” spending “more than one
million dollars on furniture, artwork, and other furnishings purchased within
the Southern District of Texas, and shipped, in part, to London and Abuja,
Nigeria.”
These were contained in a 91-page “verified
complaint” filed by the US Government before the US District Court, Southern
District of Texas, Houston Division, where it is seeking an order to forfeit
funds and assets worth $144m linked to Diezani.
The US, in the “verified complaint” signed by a
special agent with the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Elizabeth Crispino,
said Diezani allegedly acquired the assets with kickbacks from “an
international conspiracy to obtain lucrative business opportunities in the
Nigerian oil and gas sector.”
The assets, the US stated, were acquired between
April 2010 and May 2015 when Diezani was “overseeing Nigeria’s state-owned oil
company, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation.”
Among the properties, which the US now seeks to be
forfeited, are a 65-metre motor yacht, named M/Y Galactica Star; two properties
known as 807 and 815 Cima Del Mundo Road, Montecito, Calif; as well as funds in
a couple of companies.
The US stated that Diezani, with the help of and in
conspiracy with two Nigerian businessmen, Kolawole Akanni Aluko and Olajide
Omokore, “laundered the proceeds of the illicit business opportunities into and
through the United States.”
In the court processes obtained by our correspondent
on Tuesday, the US detailed, using tables, the “living and lifestyle expenses
for Alison-Madueke.”
One table, tagged, ‘Rental Payments,’ showed how
Aluko and his company, Tracon Investments Limited, helped Diezani to make a
total of at least £537,922 in rental payments for two central London residences
both located at 22 St. Edmunds Terrace, London NW8 7QQ, where Diezani and her
mother stayed between August 2011 and January 2014.
Another table, tagged, ‘Transportation Services’,
showed how Aluko and his beneficially-owned company, TENKA, helped Diezani to
make at least £393,274.32 in payments to a car hire company, the “Chauffeur
Company”, while Omokore and his own company, Energy Property Development Ltd.,
also paid at least £4,424.40 to the “Chauffeur Company” to convey Diezani and
her family about the UK between December 2012 through at least July 2014.
The FBI agent, Crispino, stated, “Upon information
and belief, the above payments were made corruptly by, on behalf of, or at the
direction of Aluko and Omokore for the benefit of Alison-Madueke and/or her
family, in return for Alison-Madueke’s having improperly influenced the award
of the Forcados SAAs to AEDC and in anticipation of or in return for her
improperly influencing the award of the Brass SAA.
“In particular, the director of the Chauffeur
Company has stated that in or around June 2014, he was assaulted in the hallway
outside of Alison-Madueke’s known residence at Flat 19, 22 St. Edmunds Terrace,
London NW8 7QQ, by two men known by the director to be Alison-Madueke’s
associates.
“This assault occurred as the director of the
Chauffeur Company was attempting to deliver a letter concerning approximately
£224,000 in unpaid services provided by his company to Alison-Madueke.
“The director of the Chauffeur Company has further
stated that, upon hearing the commotion, Alison-Madueke herself appeared and
instructed her associates to settle the unpaid bill.
“As the preceding table indicates, roughly one month
after the hallway assault, TENKA paid a total of £135,361.48 to the Chauffeur
Company.”
Crispino said Diezani’s assets were liable to being
forfeited “under 18 U.S.C. § § 981(a)(1)(A) and 981(a)(1)(C),” as they were
“derived from, or traceable to the proceeds of ‘specified unlawful activity,’
as that term is defined in 18 U.S.C. § 1956(c)(7), or a conspiracy to commit
‘specified unlawful activity,’ and as property involved in money laundering
violations of 18 U.S.C. §§ 1956 and 1957.”
Crispino stated that “Section 1956(a)(2) prohibits
transferring funds known to be the proceeds of unlawful activity from a place
outside the United States to a place in the United States, with knowledge that
the transfer is designed in whole or in part to conceal the nature, location,
source, ownership, or control of the proceeds of a specified unlawful activity,
including the proceeds of an offense against a foreign nation involving
‘bribery of a public official, or the misappropriation, theft, or embezzlement
of public funds by or for the benefit of a public official.”
Source: Punchng.com
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