Court bars Diezani from leaving the UK until April next year when her case comes up

FORMER petroleum minister Diezani Alison-Madueke has been barred from leaving the UK until April next year to avoid her absconding from the country pending the determination of corruption charges against her.

 

Last week, Ms Alison-Madueke was arrested at her west London home by the UK's National Crime Agency (NCA) and taken to Charing Cross Police Station, where she was quizzed for several hours. She was later released on bail to appear in court on Monday where an injunction was obtained to seize £27,000 from her.

 

Ms Alison-Madueke is expected to be formally charged soon with money laundering but to prevent her absconding before them, her passport has been seized and a court has prevented her from leaving the UK. Also, the court ruled that the cash seized from her can be held for six months when she is expected to be arraigned after investigations.

 

Ms Alison-Madueke will only be able to travel after an application has been brought before the court and approved. She had previously denied any wrongdoing when it was alleged that $20bn of Nigeria's oil money had gone missing when she was in office between 2010 and 2015.

 

Britain's National Crime Agency (NCA) which leads the UK law enforcement’s fight to cut serious and organised crime, is working in league with Nigeria's Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) in the probe of the former minister. It has a national and international mandate and powers to work in partnership with other law enforcement organisations to bring the full weight of the law to bear on serious and organised criminals.