Documents issued by a UK court
that restrain former Petroleum Resources Minister, Diezani Alison-Madueke, and
her business fronts, Jide Omokore and Kolawole Aluko, from disposing of
properties acquired through the dodgy Strategic Alliance Agreements (SAAs)
facilitated by the erstwhile minister have been released.
The assets in question were
acquired via companies listed as third parties in the matter being handled in
the UK under the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002. Also subject to the order are
Messrs. Benedict Peters, Christopher Illuobe, a California-based attorney,
Donald Amagbo, and three companies, Collingwood Limited, Rosewood Investments
Limited and Miranda Investment Limited.
The court papers, exclusively
obtained by SaharaReporters, show that Judge Taylor of the Southwark Crown
Court issued the restraint following an application by the Crown Prosecution
Service (CPS).
The CPS is prosecuting the defendants and third parties for
alleged acts of corruption. The order, issued on September 13, 2016, bars the
defendants and third parties from disposing or dealing in the affected assets
or diminishing their value.
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Alison-Madueke’s property at
Winnington Road, London
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The affected properties,
according to the court papers, include 5 Parkview, 83-86 Prince Albert Road,
St. John’s Wood, London NW8 7RU.
The property is registered at the
Land Registry under title number NGL745834 in the name of Collingwood Limited.
Also on the restraint list is Flat 58 Harley House, Marylebone Road, London
NW15HL, which is registered at the land registry under number NGL729440 and
held in the name of Rosewood Investments Limited.
Equally affected is 96 Camp Road,
Gerrard Cross, Buckinghamshire, SL9BP. It is registered at the registry under
title number BM180105 and held in the name of Miranda Limited. The last listed
asset is a land identified as lying to the south of Lyttelton Road, Finchley.
In his order, Judge Taylor warned
the defendants that it would amount to contempt of his court if any of the
notified persons acted in breach of the court order. Such breach, the judge
warned, could earn the offending party a term of imprisonment, fine and even
prosecution for money laundering.
The restraint order, however,
neither prevents banks from exercising rights of set off they may have in
respect of any facility given to the defendants before the order was issued nor
prevent a financial institution from taking steps to enforce an existing charge
in respect of a property.
Court papers reveal that the
restraint order will remain in force until it is varied or vacated by another
order of the court.
Prosecutors in the United States
recently provided details of how Mrs. Alison-Madueke and her fronts splashed
millions of dollars on homes and luxury items in the US and UK. A civil
forfeiture notice filed by the US Department of Justice seeks to have assets
valued at $144 million seized from Ms. Alison-Madueke, Mr. Omokore, and Mr.
Aluko.
The forfeiture notice showed how Mr. Omokore and Mr. Aluko, who
improperly received more than $1.5 billion in revenues via a questionable
agreement that empowered them to sell Nigeria’s crude oil and pocket the
proceeds, used shell companies to conceal the ownership of properties and
luxury items purchased.
Nigerian authorities have also
obtained court orders authorizing the government to seize billions of naira in
assets, including real estate, illicitly acquired by Ms. Alison-Madueke.