A United Kingdom court has cleared former Nigerian Minister of Petroleum Resources, Diezani Alison-Madueke, of bribery charges.
According to Reuters, a jury at Southwark Crown Court in London on Wednesday found Alison-Madueke not guilty of six counts bordering on bribery and conspiracy to commit bribery.
Alison-Madueke served as Minister of Petroleum Resources between 2010 and 2015 under the administration of Goodluck Jonathan.
She was accused of accepting bribes from oil and gas industry figures seeking lucrative contracts in Nigeria.
According to prosecutors, she was provided with “a life of luxury” in London in exchange for influence over the award of contracts.
However, the ex-minister denied all the allegations and maintained throughout the trial that she never accepted bribes and had no direct influence over the award of government contracts.
After more than 46 hours of deliberations, the jury returned unanimous not-guilty verdicts on all six charges.
