Diezani Lavished $144m On Furniture,Artworks � US
The United States of America has revealed how embattled former Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke, allegedly squandered about $144m, using part of the funds to purchase a yacht, landed properties, furniture and artworks.
According to a 91-page �verified complaint� filed by the US Government before the US District Court, Southern District of Texas, Houston Division, while she was in charge of the oil ministry, Diezani, lived a lavish and privileged lifestyle,� spending �more than one million dollars on furniture, artwork, and other furnishings purchased within the Southern District of Texas, and shipped, in part, to London and Abuja, Nigeria.�
They are hereby seeking an order to forfeit funds and assets worth $144m linked to Diezani.
The US, in the �verified complaint� signed by a special agent with the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Elizabeth Crispino, said Diezani allegedly acquired the assets with kickbacks from �an international conspiracy to obtain lucrative business opportunities in the Nigerian oil and gas sector.�
The assets, the US stated, were acquired between April 2010 and May 2015 when Diezani was �overseeing Nigeria�s state-owned oil company, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation.�
Among the properties, which the US now seeks to be forfeited, are a 65-metre motor yacht, named M/Y Galactica Star; two properties known as 807 and 815 Cima Del Mundo Road, Montecito, Calif; as well as funds in a couple of companies.
Crispino said Diezani�s assets were liable to being forfeited �under 18 U.S.C. � � 981(a)(1)(A) and 981(a)(1)(C),�.
Crispino stated that �Section 1956(a)(2) prohibits transferring funds known to be the proceeds of unlawful activity from a place outside the United States to a place in the United States, with knowledge that the transfer is designed in whole or in part to conceal the nature, location, source, ownership, or control of the proceeds of a specified unlawful activity, including the proceeds of an offense against a foreign nation involving �bribery of a public official, or the misappropriation, theft, or embezzlement of public funds by or for the benefit of a public official.�
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