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EFCC prepares to testify against Diezani in US,UK

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission is ready to testify against a former Minister of Petroleum Resources, Diezani Alison-Madueke, and oil barons, Kola Aluko and Jide Omokore in the United States and the United Kingdom.

Our correspondent also learnt that further evidence had been sent to the US Justice Department, as well as the UK's National Crime Agency with a view to repatriating part of the $1.6bn allegedly stolen by Alison-Madueke, Aluko and Omokore.

Two months later, as Aluko was meeting with Nigerian oil officials to discuss a contract, he arranged to buy two properties near London's Regent Parks: a £1.7m home at 39 Chester Close and 58 Harley House on the Marylebone Road for £2.8m.

The US prosecutors have also moved to seize $144m in assets, including a 200-foot yacht and a Manhattan condominium, one block from Central Park, calling them the fruits of an international bribery scheme that involved Diezani.

The Justice Department action targeted Aluko's vessel Galactica Star, which its builder considered as the "world's largest, fast displacement yacht," along with condominium units in Manhattan and real estate in Southern California located just three miles from the Pacific Ocean.


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