US Considers Visa Ban, Financial Sanctions against Alison-Madueke, Others

Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke,

As President Muhammadu Buhari enlists the help of Western

governments in his anti-corruption crusade and the recovery of

ill-gotten funds stashed away overseas, the United States

government has considered imposing a visa ban or financial

sanctions against ex-petroleum minister, Mrs. Diezani Alison-

Madueke, and a dozen of her associates, government officials in

the oil and gas sector and politicians.

Quoting US officials, The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported

yesterday that Washington was scrutinising whether Alison-

Madueke’s associates laundered money in the US, United

Kingdom and other countries.

In the report, WSJ said the UK and US have thrown their muscle

behind Buhari’s bid to recover billions of dollars he alleges his

compatriots embezzled and stashed abroad.

However, at stake is whether courtrooms thousands of miles

from Africa can help the continent track down stolen money,

seize it, try the culprits and return the funds in a timely fashion.

In May, Buhari became the first Nigerian to unseat an

incumbent president, elected on his vow to recover a vast

fortune of money lost to corruption. Within weeks, he was at the

White House to ask for help.

“We’re all in,” replied Vice-President Joe Biden, said Garba

Shehu, spokesman of the president.

When it comes to helping Africa’s top economy battle graft, this

month has offered the first glimpse of how fast and far Buhari’s

friends abroad can move.

According to WSJ, in the past, Western governments have acted

on similar pleas from other African states—but this time, they

have operated with unprecedented nimbleness.

Following a summer meeting in Washington between British and

American investigators, London police on October 2 raided a

luxurious home near Regent’s Park. There they briefly detained

Alison-Madueke, oil minister from 2010 to 2015.

Hours later, her neighbours in Nigeria watched as scores of

cops searched her house: “The former minister has questions to

answer,” said Bitrus Babuje, a fellow resident of the leafy Abuja

suburb called Asokoro.

One of Africa’s most prominent politicians, Alison-Madueke and

her associates are suspected of bribery, corruption and

laundering money through British and US banks. She has

previously denied those allegations and police haven’t charged

her with anything.

A lawyer speaking on her behalf, Oscar Onwudiwe, said she

was invited by the police in London this month but not arrested.

He said he didn’t know the purpose of the invitation. “If the

police come to your house for any reason, does it make you a

criminal?” he told WSJ.

For the federal government, the detention announces Buhari’s

intent to root out endemic corruption, a promise at the core of

his campaign. Eventually, the crackdown could help recover the

much-needed funds for an exchequer hit hard by collapsing oil

prices.

“Most of the money taken out of Nigeria is taken to the West,”

said Femi Adesina, a spokesman for Buhari. “So Nigeria will

need collaboration with the West.”

Nigeria isn’t the first African country to find its officials

investigated abroad for financial crimes. But the current flurry

of legal action seems unique for its speed and scope. Buhari is

president of Africa’s most populous state—and he has

leveraged that position to steer a global hunt for laundered

money.

Anticorruption investigators in Nigeria have arrested three

directors at the state oil company – Nigerian National

Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) – in recent days, said two

people close to the administration. None were charged; the oil

company says it is eager to expose corrupt employees.

American officials have also considered a visa ban or financial

sanctions against Alison-Madueke and a dozen of her

associates, oil officials and politicians, US officials said.

Washington is scrutinising whether her associates laundered

money in the US, the UK and other countries, the officials said.

Both the US State Department and the UK’s National Crime

Agency (NCA) declined to comment on their investigations: “We

continue to work with Nigeria to fight corruption,” a State

Department official said.

Together, the litany of legal actions—conducted on three

continents— point to a swift but uncertain precedent for Africa’s

struggle against corruption.

“The real issue is the signalling effect: that holding public office

in Nigeria should not be a licence to plunder,” said Bismarck

Rewane, Managing Director of Lagos research firm Financial

Derivatives Company. “It’s working. The number of bribes I’m

being asked for has dropped.”

For the better part of a decade, graft fighters in Africa, having

lost faith in their own courts, have asked judges in Europe and

America to wage their battles.

Major political figures in Gabon, Equatorial Guinea, and Republic

of Congo have all seen their assets frozen or targeted by French

or American courts.

But those investigations have proceeded slowly. In some cases,

they have stalled. Prosecutors have struggled to prove that cars,

houses, and artwork there were purchased with money stolen

thousands of miles away.

For now, a civil court in West London has frozen £27,000

($41,400) confiscated by the police from Alison-Madueke, said a

clerk at the court. Police also seized £5,000 and $2,000 from

her mother, court clerks added. The small amount is the first

publicly recorded evidence that legal action has been taken

against the former minister and her family.

Buhari has also been in London lately: He met with Prime

Minister David Cameron at his Downing Street office in May.

On the flight there, he sat in British Airways’ first class—just a

few rows in front of Alison-Madueke—said two people familiar

with the matter. The president-elect at the time refused to speak

to her, they said, for the entire six-hour flight.