Deziani Alison Madueke, the former minister of petroleum resources under President Goodluck Jonathan, paid whopping $37.4m in cash to acquire the banana Island property which was temporarily forfeited to the federal government by order of a Lagos high court on Wednesday.
The revelation which shocked lawyers, court officials and those at the public gallery of the court was contained in court papers filed by the Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC) in an ex parte application pursuant to Section 17 of the Advance Fee Fraud and Other Related Offences Act, No. 14, 2006 and Section 44(2)(k) of the Constitution.
According to counsel to EFCC, Mr. Anselem Ozioko, investigations by the EFCC revealed that Diezani made the $37.5m payment for the purchase of the property in cash, adding that the money was moved straight from her house in Abuja and paid into the seller’s First Bank account in Abuja.
Ozioko argued, “Nothing could be more suspicious than someone keeping such huge amounts in her apartment. Why was she doing that? To avoid attention.
“We are convinced beyond reasonable doubts because, as of the time this happened, Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke was still in public service as the Minister of Petroleum Resources.”
After listening to the EFCC lawyer, Justice Obiozor made an order temporarily seizing the property and the funds and adjourned the case to August 7.
This is certainly not the best of times for the once powerful minister of petroleum resources currently holed up in the United kingdom believed to be suffering from cancer.
She is also being investigated in the United States and Britain for acts of corruption committed while he was a government minister. In fact, the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) last week filed a civil forfeiture notice to recover funds and properties illegally acquired by Diezian and two business men Jide Omokore and Kola Aluko.