The Federal High Court sitting in Lagos on Monday ordered the permanent forfeiture of N7.6billion suspected to belong to former Minister of Petroleum Resources, Diezani Alison-Madueke, to the Federal Government.
Justice Abdulazeez Anka ordered the immediate forfeiture of money allegedly held in local bank accounts by the embattled 56-year-old.
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), which accuses Alison-Madueke of corruption, argued in court that she had illicitly laundered the funds with the help of top oil officials.
Justice Anka’s decision came days after he also ordered an interim forfeiture of 56 houses linked to the former minister valued at N3.3 billion.
Justice Chuka Obiozor, also of the Federal High Court, had on August 7 ordered the temporary forfeiture of the money to the federal government following an ex-parte application argued before him by the EFCC.
Obiozor had earlier ordered the permanent forfeiture of a $37.5 million property on Banana Island allegedly belonging t Alison-Madueke.
Since leaving office in 2015, Alison-Madueke has been implicated in bribery, fraud, misuse of public funds and money laundering cases in Nigeria, Britain, Italy and the United States.
The former president of the global oil cartel OPEC, the first female to hold the post, Alison-Madueke has always denied the allegations which involve billions of dollars syphoned from oil deals and state accounts.
