Diezani Lavishes £2m on Shopping, Court Hears
Nigeria’s former oil minister spent £2million at Harrods and bought so many luxury goods that she ran out of space, a court heard today. Diezani Alison-Madueke, 65, faces claims she lived ‘a life of luxury’ in the UK at properties paid for and refurbished by energy industry figures seeking government contracts in Nigeria. It is alleged Alison-Madueke, minister of petroleum resources from April 2010 to May 2015, was given £100,000 in cash, had access to a private jet and chauffeur-driven car, and had the use of staff including a housekeeper, nanny, gardener and window cleaner when staying in the UK. Prosecutors say she stayed in properties including a ‘grand’ home in Buckinghamshire, a £2.8million home in Marylebone, central London, and multimillion pound homes overlooking Regent’s Park, and allegedly benefited from renovations valued at £4.6million. Those accused of bribing Alison-Madueke are also accused of bankrolling lavish shopping sprees at high-end retailers, with bills of more than £2million at Harrods, £370,740 at Marylebone antiques dealer Vincenzo Caffarella, and £117,224.33 with Mayfair retailer of fine china, silverware and glass, Thomas Goode. Alison-Madueke denies five counts of accepting bribes and a charge of conspiracy to commit bribery. Olatimbo Ayinde, 54, an owner of Nigerian oil companies, denies two charges of bribery, while Alison-Madueke’s brother, former archbishop Doye Agama, 69, denies conspiracy to commit bribery. Today, prosecutor Alexandra Healy KC told jurors at Southwark Crown Court that Alison-Madueke’s visits to Thomas Goode, starting in February 2011, ‘made an impression’ as she was accompanied by an entourage. One of the workers, Jon Taverner, recalls shopping sprees lasting for hours, the court heard, including one occasion when she ‘sat at a desk in the store to do a couple of hours work before doing some more shopping’. ‘He described her as particularly loving their sales, and could not resist a bargain,’ said Ms Healy. ‘On one occasion he recalled her saying words to the effect ‘I don’t even know why I’m buying this, I haven’t got the room for it’.’ Jurors were told that Alison-Madueke ‘never paid’ for purchases at the Mayfair store, which included £19,533 on a marble console table, a Georgian-style sideboard and a French writing desk. The court heard Mr Taverner later identified some of the items bought from his store, that were recovered by the National Crime Agency from a storage unit which is said to be linked to Alison-Madueke. When she was part of the Nigerian government, Alison-Madueke had oversight of the state-owned Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation and its subsidiaries the Nigerian Petroleum Development Company and the Pipelines Product Marketing Company. It is alleged she accepted bribes from five men with leading roles in oil companies which were seeking access to government contracts. One of the men, Kolawole Aluko, is said to have been behind ‘excessive and extravagant’ spending for Alison-Madueke, including the Harrods shopping sprees. Jurors heard he paid for items allegedly selected by Alison-Madueke at high-end retailer West One Bathrooms in 2013, for the refurbishment of a master bathroom and guest cloakroom. But the items, costing more than £38,000 were never collected. In 2014, Ms Healy said Alison-Madueke was concerned that Mr Aluko had been talking about their alleged arrangement, and showed jurors extracts of recorded conversations. In one, she said: ‘I will be happy to escort all of you to jail along with myself’. ‘I will come out and tell the Nigerian people this is what happened,’ she continued. ‘Oh yes, I will blame myself…but I will come out openly and say it so that they can judge me openly.’ In the conversations, Mr Aluko is heard denying naming Alison-Madueke to anybody, and she challenges the idea that 80 million dollars had been spent on her, adding: ‘The furniture they gave me didn’t come to more than four million dollars altogether.’ Ms Healy told the court: ‘It is a clear reference to issue with whether Mr Aluko was telling people he had given her gifts. Alison-Madueke is saying it wasn’t 80 million, it was four million in furniture.’ The trial is expected to hear allegations of £1 million in payments to Agama’s church, which were also said to be aimed at influencing Alison-Madueke. The trial continues.
