A Nigerian oil minister went on “extravagant and excessive” spending sprees at high-end London stores with money from bribes by industry insiders, a London court has heard. During a visit to Harrods in 2013, Diezani Alison-Madueke ordered thousands of pounds worth of rugs, including by luxury brand Alexander McQueen, Southwark Crown Court was told. Prosecutors allege the 65-year-old was provided with “a life of luxury in the United Kingdom” by those interested in Nigerian government contracts.
Alison-Madueke, who was Nigeria’s minister of petroleum resources between 2010 and 2015, denies five counts of accepting bribes and a charge of conspiracy to commit bribery. The court heard that during the Harrods visit in November 2013, Alison-Madueke was allegedly accompanied by Nigerian businessman Kolawole Aluko and a security guard. According to a sales executive working in the store, the then-minister looked “extremely glamorous and was wearing very expensive clothing”.
Alison-Madueke was also a regular shopper at Vincenzo Cafferella, a decorative arts and furniture store in north London, where she was known as “Sharon D”, the court was told. The prosecution alleges that between October 2012 and November 2013, Aluko bought various items, including lamps and tables, for Alison-Madueke costing more than £370,000. The court heard Alison-Madueke would also spend hours in Thomas Goode, a china and silverware shop in Mayfair, and once arrived with an entourage of about four or five people. A worker there remembered her loving the sales and saying to him: “I don’t even know why I’m buying this, I haven’t got the room for it.”
