Diezani Allison-Madueke, others forfeit $53m to US govt

The US department of justice has announced the final resolution of two civil cases seeking the forfeiture of the luxury assets that were laundered in and through the country in a case involving Diezani Alison-Madueke, former minister of petroleum resources, and her associates.

Diezani’s associates who were named in the forfeiture case are Kola Aluko, a Nigerian businessman, and Jide Omokore, chairman of Atlantic Energy Drilling Concepts Nigeria Limited. The department said the forfeited assets were the “proceeds of foreign corruption offenses”.

“With the conclusion of the cases, the department has recovered roughly $53.1 million in cash – constituting the net liquidated value of the defendant’s assets – plus a promissory note with a principal value of $16 million,” the U.S. Justice department said in a statement.