A U.K court has cleared former Nigerian Minister of Petroleum Resources, Diezani Alison-Madueke of six bribery charges.
Alison-Madueke is standing trial in London for an alleged bribery offence.
The court on Wednesday said she was not found guilty of six bribery charges .
The trial of Alison-Madueke began more than a decade ago.
Alison-Madueke, the first woman to be Nigeria’s minister for petroleum resources between 2010 and 2015 under then-President Goodluck Jonathan, was charged with five counts of accepting bribes and a charge of conspiracy to commit bribery.
Prosecutors alleged Alison-Madueke, 65, was given “a life of luxury” in London from oil and gas industry figures seeking lucrative contracts in Nigeria, which has long grappled with mismanagement and corruption.
But the former minister denied the allegations.
She said she never took any bribes and had no real influence over the awarding of contracts.
Her lawyers argued the spending cited by the prosecution was reimbursed, by the Nigerian state for official business or Alison-Madueke herself for personal expenses, and she gave evidence that she was thought of as “Madame Due Process”.
Following the trial at London’s Southwark Crown Court that began in January, Alison-Madueke was acquitted after more than 46 hours of jury deliberation.
Alison-Madueke’s lawyer said in a statement that she was grateful to the jury, having “unnecessarily endured the ordeal of being separated from her family over 11 years”.
“She is finally allowed to resume her private and public life with her reputation restored and enhanced,” the statement said.
