The Federal High Court, Abuja has ordered a former minister of petroleum Diezani Alison-Madueke to submit herself for money laundering trial.
Justice Ijeoma Ojkukwu gave the order on Friday in a ruling on an ex-parte motion marked FHC/ABJ/CR/208/2018 and brought by counsel of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) Faruk Abdallah.
The judge ordered the issuance of summons on Diezani for her to be arraigned.
The EFCC had accused the former minister of fleeing the country for the United Kingdom (UK) in order to escape justice.
The judge then ordered that the court’s summons be published on the website of the anti-corruption agency and a national daily in a conspicuous manner.
Earlier, Mr Abdallah had argued that since Diezani allegedly fled the country, it was difficult to get her back to respond to the various criminal allegations against her.
The lawyer, in a document filed along with the motion ex-parte, said it sought to question Diezani, without success, in relation to many allegations against her, including “her role as the Minister of Petroleum Resources and her role in the award of Strategic Alliance Agreement (SAA) to Septa Energy Limited, Atlantic Energy Drilling Concept Limited and Atlantic Energy Brass Development Limited by NNPC.”
He said it also wanted Diezani to respond to questions about her role in the chartering of private jets by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and Ministry of Petroleum Resources and her role in the award of contracts by NNPC to Marine and Logistics Services Limited.
He said it equally wanted the ex-minister to speak on several items, documents and jewellery recovered from her house in Abuja, and some property that were linked to her in Nigeria, UK, United States, United Arab Emirate (UAE) and South Africa.
The case was adjourned until October 28.
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