EFCC swoops on Diezani’s residence in Abuja as ex-minister is arrested in London

Operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on Friday carried out a search of the Asokoro, Abuja, residence of Diezani Alison-Madueke as part of a multinational investigation of the former minister of petroleum resources.

The former minister was arrested in London, UK, on Friday by the newly formed International Corruption Unit of the country’s National Crimes Agency.

The agency announced on its website on Friday that it had arrested five people “across London” as part of an investigation into suspected bribery and money laundering offences but stopped short of naming the suspects.

TheCable understands that the operations are being coordinated with several international agencies because of the “sensitive” nature of the investigation.

EFCC made “significant recovery” of documents at the Abuja home of the former minister, TheCable was informed by a senior security source.

“The raid on her Asokoro residence today (Friday) yielded vital information that will help in the prosecution of the case,” the source said.

“Many agencies across several countries are involved in this investigation. Anti-money laundering agencies in Austria, France, Switzerland, Nigeria and UK are working together on it.”

Presidency sources told TheCable that the involvement of foreign agencies was critical to the success of the anti-corruption campaign of President Muhammadu Buhari.

“The Nigerian judiciary still has a long way to go in dealing with cases of corruption. Many suspects are hoping that they will capitalise on the weak nature of the country’s judiciary to frustrate the anti-corruption war,” one of the sources said.

“Unfortunately, they didn’t reckon with the fact that they can also be prosecuted in other countries where they may have laundered the looted funds.

“The former governor of Delta state (James Ibori) could not be tried successfully in Nigeria but he was prosecuted and jailed in the UK mainly on the evidence provided by Nigeria. This is a warning signal to those who think they can get away by manipulating the Nigerian judiciary.”

TheCable was also informed that the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the Department of State Services (DSS) played a major role in tracing some of the funds that were allegedly laundered by the last administration.

Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, as he was known when he was CBN governor, had raised the alarm that $20 billion was not properly accounted for by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC).

Two leading Nigerian banks were said to have been used to launder most of the funds abroad.