Alison-Madueke bribery trial enters jury deliberation stage 

Jury’s involved in the investigative court case of Diezeni Alison-Madueke, former minister of Petroleum Resources, has begun deliberations on Monday after her consistent appearance for about four months in London’s Southwark Crown Court.

Since the hearing started in January, she has pleaded “not guilty” to five counts of accepting bribes and one count of conspiracy to commit bribery.

However, prosecutors allege that the 65-year-old Alison-Madueke led a “life of luxury” in London, due to her accessibility to luxurious properties and several shopping sprees by industry figures interested in lucrative oil and gas contracts, according to reports by Reuters.

But her lawyers argued that Alison-Madueke, who was also the first female president of the Organisation of the Exporting Countries (OPEC), was a “rubber stamp” for official recommendations.

Sometime last month, during a hearing, she told the jury that, “at no time did I ask, take, or seek a bribe or bribes of any sort.”

The former Petroleum minister stood trial alongside Olatimbo Ayinde, an oil industry executive, who is charged with one count of bribery relating to Alison-Madueke and a separate count of bribery of a foreign public official.

Also, 69-year-old Doye Agama, Alison-Madueke’s brother, is charged with conspiracy to commit bribery relating to Agama’s church. But both siblings have denied the charges.

Since late January when the trial began, the jury was sent out on Monday to consider the verdicts on the eight charges the three defendants face.