UK Court Orders Crime Agency To Seize £27,000 From Ex-Nigerian Oil Minister, Diezani
The Westminster Magistrate’s Court on Marylebone Road, London, on Monday granted an application for seizure of 27,000 pounds seized from a former Minister of Petroleum Resources, Diezani Alison-Madueke, Premium Times reports.
Mrs. Alison-Madueke was arrested and later released on bail on Friday for alleged corruption-related offences.
The cash was seized under Section 295 of Proceeds of Crime Act 2012.
By granting the application, which was filed by the UK’s National Crime Agency, the money would be held in the custody of the court until April 5, 2016.
According to Premium Times, the former minister did not appear today in court, but her mother, Beatrice Agama, and another woman, Melanie Spencer, appeared in today’s sitting.
Reports also said a separate application was also made against Ms. Agama for the seizure of an undisclosed amount of money.
There were indications the money seized by the court was found recently with Mrs. Alison-Madueke as the National Crime Agency applied for the seizure within 48 hours.
An overview of the Proceeds of Crime Act says “The Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 (“POCA”) sets out the legislative scheme for the recovery of criminal assets with criminal confiscation being the most commonly used power.
“Confiscation occurs after a conviction has taken place. Other means of recovering the proceeds of crime which do not require a conviction are provided for in the Act, namely civil recovery, cash seizure and taxation powers.
“The aim of the asset recovery schemes in POCA is to deny criminals the use of their assets, recover the proceeds of crime and disrupt and deter criminality.
“Since 2010, more than £746 million of criminal assets has been seized (to 2013/14) across all four methods of recovery – a record amount.
“Over the same period, assets worth more than £2.5 billion have been frozen denying criminals access to these resources and £93 million has been returned to victims,” said a factsheet.
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