According to court documents, businessmen Aluko and Omokore planned to pay bribes to Diezani between 2011 and 2015.
According to the US Justice Department, different luxury assets that were bought with money from international corruption crimes and were laundered in or through the US have finally been taken away. This was done in two civil proceedings.
According to documents from the Justice Department, former Petroleum Resources Minister Diezani Alison-Madueke and her business partners Kolawole Akanni Aluko and Olajide Omokore were involved in the laundry cases.
The department said on Monday that the cases had been resolved and that it had collected around $53.1 million in cash, which represents the net liquidated worth of the defendant’s assets, together with a promissory note with a principal value of $16 million.
According to court documents, businessmen Aluko and Omokore colluded with others between 2011 and 2015 to bribe Diezani, who was in charge of the country’s state-owned oil corporation at the time.
In exchange, Aluko and Omokore’s businesses received lucrative oil contracts thanks to Diezani’s influence.
The department alleges that more than $100 million in proceeds from those illegally awarded contracts were then laundered in and through the US and used to buy a variety of assets through shell companies, including opulent real estate in California and New York as well as the 65-meter superyacht Galactica Star.
READ ALSO: NASS elections: Governor Ortom concedes defeat and withdraws his lawsuit
Moreover, Aluko and the sham corporations he controlled received loans using the real estate as security. The lien holders received payments as part of the forfeiture procedure.
The announcement was made by Chief Jim Lee of the IRS Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI), Assistant Attorney General Kenneth A. Polite, Jr., Assistant Director Luis Quesada, Assistant Director in Charge David Sundberg, and Assistant Director in Charge Luis Quesada of the FBI’s Criminal Investigative Division.
With cooperation from the FBI Los Angeles Field Office, the cases were examined by the IRS-CI and the FBI’s International Corruption Unit in the Washington Field Office.
The cases were prosecuted by trial lawyers Michael W. Khoo and Joshua L. Sohn from the Criminal Division’s Money Laundering and Asset Recovery Section. The Office of International Affairs of the Justice Department and the U.S. The Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Texas was a significant help.
“The Kleptocracy Asset Recovery Initiative was used in these situations. In collaboration with federal law enforcement organisations and frequently with U.S. law enforcement, a group of committed prosecutors from the Criminal Division’s Money Laundering and Asset Recovery Section are in charge of this project. A portion of the department’s statement said, “Attorneys’ Offices shall forfeit the proceeds of foreign official misconduct and, where appropriate, utilise those confiscated assets to help the individuals injured by these acts of corruption and abuse of authority.
To counter the domestic and global effects of foreign corruption, the FBI established International Corruption Squads around the nation in 2015.
Anyone with knowledge regarding potential international corruption funds that may be in the United States or being laundered through the country is urged to notify federal law enforcement by emailing kleptocracy@usdoj.gov or through the tips.fbi.gov website.
