{"id":30331,"date":"2026-01-29T06:41:16","date_gmt":"2026-01-29T11:41:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/?p=30331"},"modified":"2026-01-29T06:41:16","modified_gmt":"2026-01-29T11:41:16","slug":"ex-nigerian-minister-diezani-alison-madueke-went-on-spending-sprees-court-hears-in-bribery-trial","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/2026\/01\/29\/ex-nigerian-minister-diezani-alison-madueke-went-on-spending-sprees-court-hears-in-bribery-trial\/","title":{"rendered":"Ex-Nigerian minister Diezani Alison-Madueke went on spending sprees, court hears in bribery trial"},"content":{"rendered":"
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A Nigerian oil minister went on “extravagant and excessive” spending sprees at high-end London stores with money from bribes by industry insiders, a London court has heard.<\/b><\/p>\n

During a visit to Harrods in 2013, Diezani Alison-Madueke ordered thousands of pounds worth of rugs, including by luxury brand Alexander McQueen, Southwark Crown Court was told.<\/p>\n

Prosecutors allege the 65-year-old was provided with “a life of luxury in the United Kingdom” by those interested in Nigerian government contracts.<\/p>\n

Alison-Madueke, who was Nigeria’s minister of petroleum resources between 2010 and 2015, denies five counts of accepting bribes and a charge of conspiracy to commit bribery.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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The court heard that during the Harrods visit in November 2013, Alison-Madueke was allegedly accompanied by Nigerian businessman Kolawole Aluko and a security guard.<\/p>\n

According to a sales executive working in the store, the then-minister looked “extremely glamorous and was wearing very expensive clothing”.<\/p>\n

Alison-Madueke was also a regular shopper at Vincenzo Cafferella, a decorative arts and furniture store in north London, where she was known as “Sharon D”, the court was told.<\/p>\n

The prosecution alleges that between October 2012 and November 2013, Aluko bought various items, including lamps and tables, for Alison-Madueke costing more than \u00a3370,000.<\/p>\n

The court heard Alison-Madueke would also spend hours in Thomas Goode, a china and silverware shop in Mayfair, and once arrived with an entourage of about four or five people.<\/p>\n

A worker there remembered her loving the sales and saying to him: “I don’t even know why I’m buying this, I haven’t got the room for it.”<\/p>\n

The court was told items were often bought but not collected and that Alison-Madueke never paid for anything herself.<\/p>\n

Instead, the bills were understood to be settled by Aluko and other Nigerian businessmen said to own energy companies that had lucrative contracts with the state-owned Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation when Alison-Madueke was oil minister.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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