The United States Department of Justice has announced the final resolution of two civil cases in forfeiture of the luxury assets that were laundered in and through Nigeria in a case linking former minister of petroleum resources, Diezani Alison-Madueke, and her colleagues.
Diezani’s associates who were named in the forfeiture case are Kola Aluko, a Nigerian businessman, and Jide Omokore, chairman of Atlantic Energy Drilling Concepts Nigeria Limited.
The DOJ said the forfeited assets were the “proceeds of foreign corruption offences”.
In a statement released on its website on Monday, the US department of justice 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.
