Controversial former Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke, has claimed that she did not use her position in Goodluck Jonathan’s government to steal Nigeria’s money.
Diezani, who looked frail told Dele Momodu that she performed her duties to the best of her knowledge and abilities, and that many of the allegations against her are not based on facts.
But she was arrested by officials of the National Crime Agency in UK over “money laundering”.
The former minister had been alleged to have used her position as minister to steal billions of naira from the country’s coffers. In June 2008, she was subject to a Senate probe after it emerged that as Transport Minister she had paid N30.9bn ($263m) to contractors between December 26 and 31, 2007.
However, she has never been tried for these allegations and has strongly denied any wrongdoing. She was alleged to have spent billions of dollars on private jets and responsible for some missing $20bn.
She is also widely accused of reckless spending of government funds.
In October 2009, the Senate indicted her and recommended prosecution for the alleged transfer of N1.2bn into the private account of a toll company without due process and in breach of concession agreement.
She is said to be worth billions of dollars.
