Nigeria’s former Minister of Petroleum Resources, Diezani Alison-Madueke, has accused UK authorities of destroying her reputation in a failed prosecution that left her traumatic.
Alison-Madueke was cleared of bribery charges at Southwark Crown Court on Wednesday.
In an interview with the BBC, she said the 13 year investigation by the UK’s National Crime Agency, NCA, “could have been handled a lot differently.”
“I’ve not been allowed to travel. I’ve not been allowed to work. They destroyed my reputation and my integrity,” Alison-Madueke said.
The court found her not guilty of five counts of accepting bribes and conspiracy to commit bribery following a trial that began in 2023.
Alison-Madueke served as Nigeria’s oil minister between 2010 and 2015 and was the first female president of OPEC, said: “When your freedom is taken away from you…it has a very deep impact upon you psychologically.
“I knew that I had never done anything nefarious and I had never done any of the heinous things I was being accused of doing,” she added.
