Court documents filed by the US Department of Justice in
Houston have revealed that Nigeria’s former oil minister, Diezani
Alison-Madueke tried to warn Kola Aluko and Jide Omokore, her business partners
against lavish spending, including splashing millions of dollars on a yacht.
“If
you want to hire a yacht, you lease it for two weeks or whatever. You don’t go
and sink funds into it at this time when Nigerian oil and gas sector is under
all kinds of watch,” she said to Aluko in a recorded conversation.
But
her warning was not heeded as Aluko went on to buy Galactica Star, a luxury
yacht, for $80million.
The yacht, a stupendous luxury on water, was once rented
by Jay Z and his wife, Beyonce for close to a million dollars during a holiday
last year. It also once hosted Beyonce’s 32nd birthday in 2013.
Both
Aluko and Omokore are alleged to have paid bribes between 2011 and 2015 to
Diezani who ensured that shell companies owned by the businessmen received
billion-dollar contracts to sell Nigeria’s crude oil.
The
oil swap contracts were a controversial barter arrangement which saw Nigeria
use middlemen to sell crude oil in exchange for refined products. With local
refineries under-performing, oil swap deals were used to shore up local demand
for petroleum products.
Culled:
NAN
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