A statement by former President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan in support of his former minister of petroleum resources, Diezani Allison-Madueke’s defence in her ongoing trial for corruption in Southwark Crown Court in the United Kingdom was on Tuesday read to the court.
Jonathan appointed Alison-Madueke as his oil minister in 2010.
At the continued hearing where three oil executives denied paying bribes to the embattled former minister, Jonathan said it was not unusual for third parties to make payments on behalf of ministers on overseas duties.
According to him, “any properly incurred incidental or in-kind assistance from third parties would be recorded and reimbursed where applicable”.
Amidst allegation that Alison-Maduke indulged in flying private jets on official trips, Jonathan claimed he had approved her use of private jets on some foreign trips.
Jonathan’s statement appeared to corroborate alleged bribery by the duo of Kevin Okyere, a Ghanian businessman, and Igho Sanomi, Abuja-based, who claimed in their statements to UK investigators that were also read out in Southwark Crown Court that they were reimbursed the money paid on her behalf.
The men are part of a group of industry insiders who are alleged to have bankrolled spending sprees and luxury home stays by Alison-Madueke, 65. None of them have been charged in this case and they have not appeared in person at court.
Olatimbo Ayinde, 54, another oil industry executive, similarly denied one count of bribery relating to Alison-Madueke and a separate count of bribery of a foreign public official.
Alison-Madueke had denied the five counts of accepting bribes and a charge of conspiracy to commit bribery. She stated that the cost of services laid on for her while on official duties was later repaid.
In a written statement given to National Crime Agency (NCA) investigators in June 2016, Okyere told investigators that the allegation that he had “bribed” Alison-Madueke was “completely untrue”.
He said he had paid for items bought at Peter Jones by Alison-Madueke two years earlier after bumping into her at the tills and seeing she did not have enough money.
Okyere, who is chief executive of several oil and gas companies, said that the £3,900 was later reimbursed by Alison-Madueke in cash at his office in the Nigerian capital, Abuja.
Nigerian oil tycoon Sanomi, meanwhile, gave a statement to the NCA in June 2017.
In it, he said, “foreign currency exchange [was] difficult in Nigeria” and that as a result he “obtained items on Mrs. Alison-Madueke’s behalf in London”, which would all be reimbursed.
He also told the NCA that his companies “always won their contracts fairly bidding against other competitors and that at no point was Mrs. Alison Madueke or anyone else improperly involved in any allocation” to him or his companies.
The court previously heard how oil tycoons had allegedly paid for private jets as part of the “life of luxury” provided to the minister, which is also alleged to have included the use of properties worth millions of pounds and chauffeur-driven cars.
Alison-Madueke finished nearly 11 days of testifying earlier on Tuesday. The BBC reports that she was asked what efforts she had made since her arrest in 2015 to provide evidence that money spent in multiple shopping trips to Harrods and other luxury stores had been paid back.
She claimed that since her arrest, she had been held in London by the NCA “at the expense of taxpayers and had not been allowed to go back to Nigeria in the last 10 years”.
Alison-Madueke also said her papers had been seized by the Nigerian authorities, whom she accused of not assisting her defence because of their political opposition to the government she had been part of.
She denied she was lying about not receiving financial or other advantages from oil executives.
“At no time did I do anything to influence or show favour to anyone,” she told the court.
During six days of cross examination by prosecutor Alexandra Healy KC, the ex-minister was taken through a large number of expensive items, such as Gucci handbags and furniture, which the prosecution allege were bought for her.
In a trip in November 2013 to Vincenzo Caffarella, a decorative arts and antiques shop in London, £170,000 was allegedly spent on a “vast amount of property” including Venetian lamps and vases. Alison-Madueke denied it was to furnish a house she was having built in Nigeria, saying most of the items were not for her.
“I don’t think anyone would risk their career for furniture and handbags,” she told the court.
Also on trial is Alison-Madueke’s brother, former archbishop Doye Agama, 69, who the court was told would not be giving evidence. He denied conspiracy to commit bribery.
The trial continues.