Ex-OPEC president in UK court ahead of corruption trial
By AFP
January 19, 2026
Former OPEC president Diezani Alison-Madueke leaves Southwark Crown Court in London ahead of her full trial for corruption - Copyright AFP STEPHANE DE SAKUTIN
Former OPEC president Diezani Alison-Madueke appeared in a London court on Monday, ahead of her full trial on bribery charges relating to her time as Nigeria’s oil minister.
Preliminary proceedings, including technical matters and jury selection, began this week, with Alison-Madueke in attendance.
Alison-Madueke, who was in office from 2010 to 2015, was the first woman oil minister in Nigeria and the first female president of the global oil cartel OPEC.
The 65-year-old has been on bail since she was first arrested in London in October 2015. She has denied six charges against her.
She was formally charged in 2023 by the UK’s National Crime Agency with offences of accepting bribes between 2011 to 2015.
“We suspect Diezani Alison-Madueke abused her power in Nigeria and accepted financial rewards for awarding multi-million-pound contracts,” the NCA said at the time.
According to the indictment, Alison-Madueke benefitted from at least £100,000 ($134,000) in cash, chauffeur-driven cars, flights on private jets and the use of multiple London properties.
The charges also detailed financial rewards including furniture, renovation work and staff for the properties, payment of private school fees and gifts from top designer shops such as Louis Vuitton.
The trial is scheduled to begin on Monday, January 26 and is expected to last 10 to 12 weeks.
Two others are also being prosecuted on bribery charges linked to the case: Doye Agama, who appeared in court via video link on Monday, and Olatimbo Ayinde, who was present in the dock.
Louvre heist probe: What we know
By AFP
January 19, 2026
The thieves broke in on a Sunday morning - Copyright GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA/AFP/File Michael loccisano
Francois Becker, Celine Cornu and Murielle Kasprzak
Thieves in October broke into the French capital’s world-famous Louvre museum in broad daylight, escaping in under eight minutes with jewellery worth $102 million.
Three months on from the brazen heist, four suspects are in police custody but the jewels are still nowhere to be found.
Here is what we know — and don’t.
– Four detained –
Four men in their thirties, arrested in October and November, are suspected of being the team who conducted the theft on October 19, 2025.
The pair suspected of having broken in include Abdoulaye N., an unlicensed taxi driver turning 40 this month, who previously showed off his motorbike stunts on social media.
The other is a 35-year-old Algerian, who was detained in October as he was preparing to fly out of Paris.
A third suspect, aged 37, was involved in a previous theft with Abdoulaye N., while a fourth — who is 38 — hails from the same Paris suburb as the other three.
Investigating magistrates started questioning them this month, but have no significant leads so far, top Paris prosecutor Laure Beccuau has said.
A fifth suspect — a 38-year-old woman who is the partner of the third suspect — has been charged with being an accomplice, but released under judicial supervision pending a trial.
– ‘Genuine preparation’ –
There was “genuine preparation” before the heist, said Beccuau.
The robbers struck early on a Sunday morning, “when everything was slowly getting going at the museum”, after locating and stealing a mover’s truck with an extendable ladder to reach the first-floor gallery housing the French crown jewels.
After parking the truck below, two of the thieves hoisted themselves up the ladder in a furniture lift, the investigation has shown.
They broke a window and used angle grinders to cut glass cases containing the treasures, while the other two waited below.
They then lowered themselves down with their loot, and the four fled on high-powered motor scooters, dropping a diamond-and-emerald crown in their hurry.
But eight other items — including an emerald-and-diamond necklace that Napoleon I gave his second wife, Empress Marie-Louise — remain at large.
– DNA samples –
During the escape, “you can sense a certain amount of stress — no doubt because they are actually doing it — which means they end up dropping the jewellery and also leaving behind DNA traces,” Beccuau said.
The first suspect — the motorbike stuntman — was identified after his DNA was found on broken glass and objects abandoned on site, while the second left genetic clues on a scooter as he fled.
The third — and his female partner — had left DNA on the furniture lift.
Further investigations and cross-checks led to the arrest of a fourth, suspected of having parked the truck under the museum gallery, said Beccuau.
– ‘Not bunglers’ –
Some observers may have called the burglars amateurs, but a source with knowledge of the probe said they were “not such bunglers after all”.
“They had put their scooters and equipment in storage units and had disabled the video surveillance” nearby before the heist, the source said, speaking to AFP on condition of anonymity because they were not allowed to reveal details of the investigation.
Dressed as workmen in high-visibility jackets, they completed the whole burglary in just eight minutes.
After they abandoned their scooters for a van, it headed for the suburbs “to throw off the investigators by entering an area not covered by cameras”, the source added.
“They then didn’t call each other again and went back to their lives as if nothing had happened,” the source said.
Contacted by AFP, lawyers of the suspects did not immediately respond or declined to comment.
– Poor security –
Poor security at the Louvre made the robber’s getaway easier, a culture ministry probe found last month, even if they evaded security forces with just 30 seconds to spare.
Only one of two security cameras was working near the site where the intruders broke in, and agents in the security control room did not have enough screens to follow the images in real time.
– Missing jewellery –
Beccuau said it was still unclear if a third party ordered the heist — or indeed where the jewellery might be.
Beccuau said there was no sign the spoils had crossed the French border, but investigators were relying on contacts abroad to signal if something suspicious showed up.
fbe-cco-jt-sm-mk-mca/ah/cw/abs
By AFP
January 19, 2026
The thieves broke in on a Sunday morning - Copyright GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA/AFP/File Michael loccisano
Francois Becker, Celine Cornu and Murielle Kasprzak
Thieves in October broke into the French capital’s world-famous Louvre museum in broad daylight, escaping in under eight minutes with jewellery worth $102 million.
Three months on from the brazen heist, four suspects are in police custody but the jewels are still nowhere to be found.
Here is what we know — and don’t.
– Four detained –
Four men in their thirties, arrested in October and November, are suspected of being the team who conducted the theft on October 19, 2025.
The pair suspected of having broken in include Abdoulaye N., an unlicensed taxi driver turning 40 this month, who previously showed off his motorbike stunts on social media.
The other is a 35-year-old Algerian, who was detained in October as he was preparing to fly out of Paris.
A third suspect, aged 37, was involved in a previous theft with Abdoulaye N., while a fourth — who is 38 — hails from the same Paris suburb as the other three.
Investigating magistrates started questioning them this month, but have no significant leads so far, top Paris prosecutor Laure Beccuau has said.
A fifth suspect — a 38-year-old woman who is the partner of the third suspect — has been charged with being an accomplice, but released under judicial supervision pending a trial.
– ‘Genuine preparation’ –
There was “genuine preparation” before the heist, said Beccuau.
The robbers struck early on a Sunday morning, “when everything was slowly getting going at the museum”, after locating and stealing a mover’s truck with an extendable ladder to reach the first-floor gallery housing the French crown jewels.
After parking the truck below, two of the thieves hoisted themselves up the ladder in a furniture lift, the investigation has shown.
They broke a window and used angle grinders to cut glass cases containing the treasures, while the other two waited below.
They then lowered themselves down with their loot, and the four fled on high-powered motor scooters, dropping a diamond-and-emerald crown in their hurry.
But eight other items — including an emerald-and-diamond necklace that Napoleon I gave his second wife, Empress Marie-Louise — remain at large.
– DNA samples –
During the escape, “you can sense a certain amount of stress — no doubt because they are actually doing it — which means they end up dropping the jewellery and also leaving behind DNA traces,” Beccuau said.
The first suspect — the motorbike stuntman — was identified after his DNA was found on broken glass and objects abandoned on site, while the second left genetic clues on a scooter as he fled.
The third — and his female partner — had left DNA on the furniture lift.
Further investigations and cross-checks led to the arrest of a fourth, suspected of having parked the truck under the museum gallery, said Beccuau.
– ‘Not bunglers’ –
Some observers may have called the burglars amateurs, but a source with knowledge of the probe said they were “not such bunglers after all”.
“They had put their scooters and equipment in storage units and had disabled the video surveillance” nearby before the heist, the source said, speaking to AFP on condition of anonymity because they were not allowed to reveal details of the investigation.
Dressed as workmen in high-visibility jackets, they completed the whole burglary in just eight minutes.
After they abandoned their scooters for a van, it headed for the suburbs “to throw off the investigators by entering an area not covered by cameras”, the source added.
“They then didn’t call each other again and went back to their lives as if nothing had happened,” the source said.
Contacted by AFP, lawyers of the suspects did not immediately respond or declined to comment.
– Poor security –
Poor security at the Louvre made the robber’s getaway easier, a culture ministry probe found last month, even if they evaded security forces with just 30 seconds to spare.
Only one of two security cameras was working near the site where the intruders broke in, and agents in the security control room did not have enough screens to follow the images in real time.
– Missing jewellery –
Beccuau said it was still unclear if a third party ordered the heist — or indeed where the jewellery might be.
Beccuau said there was no sign the spoils had crossed the French border, but investigators were relying on contacts abroad to signal if something suspicious showed up.
fbe-cco-jt-sm-mk-mca/ah/cw/abs
No comments:
Post a Comment