By: Staff Writer
April 4, 2013
The financier of a former Dominican diplomat had $53m in profits seized by the US Department of Justice in a long running corruption probe.
Kolawole Akanni Aluko, a Nigerian oil tycoon along with Olajide Omokore, have been alleged of conspiring to pay bribes to Nigeria’s former Minister for Petroleum Resources, Diezani Alison-Madueke a US Department of Justice release states.
Madueke is also a former diplomat of Dominica. Alison-Madueke has held three significant positions in the Nigerian federal government. She was appointed Transportation Minister in July 2007. On 23 December 2008, she became the Minister of Mines and Steel Development. When Vice-President; Goodluck Jonathan became acting President in February 2010, he dissolved the cabinet on 17 March 2010, and swore in a new cabinet on 6 April 2010 with Alison-Madueke as Minister for Petroleum Resources.Diezani left office on June 1, 2015, as part of the presidential transition to Jonathan’s successor. She then went to work for the Commonwealth of Dominica as a Trade and Investment Commissioner.
The recent US Justice Department release also says: “The proceeds of those illicitly awarded contracts totalling more than $100 million were then laundered in and through the United States and used to purchase various assets through shell companies, including luxury real estate in California and New York as well as the Galactica Star, a 65-meter superyacht. The real estate was also used as collateral for loans to Aluko and shell companies he controlled. As part of the forfeiture process, those lien holders were paid.
“Assistant Attorney General Kenneth A. Polite, Jr. of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, Assistant Director Luis Quesada of the FBI’s Criminal Investigative Division, Assistant Director in Charge David Sundberg of the FBI Washington Field Office, and Chief Jim Lee of the IRS Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI) made the announcement.
“The FBI’s International Corruption Squad in the Washington Field Office and the IRS-CI investigated the cases, with assistance from the FBI Los Angeles Field Office.
“Trial Attorneys Michael W. Khoo and Joshua L. Sohn of the Criminal Division’s Money Laundering and Asset Recovery Section prosecuted the cases. The Justice Department’s Office of International Affairs and U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Texas provided substantial assistance.”
This US Justice Department seizure follows an earlier $144m, 2017 confiscation of assets involving the same trio that were alleged to have been involved in “dirty contracts,” all of which led to a $80m yacht and a $50m condominium overlooking Central Park in New York City.