Diezani Alison-Madueke was acquitted on Wednesday of six bribery charges following a high-profile corruption trial at Southwark Crown Court.
Alison-Madueke, who served as Nigeria’s Minister of Petroleum Resources from 2010 to 2015 under former President Goodluck Jonathan, faced five counts of accepting bribes and one count of conspiracy to commit bribery.
She denied all the charges.
Prosecutors alleged that the 65-year-old received “a life of luxury” in London from oil and gas executives seeking lucrative contracts in Nigeria, a country that has long battled corruption and poor governance.
However, Alison-Madueke maintained that she neither accepted bribes nor exercised any real influence over the award of government contracts.
The former minister, who also briefly served as President of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, was cleared of all six charges after a jury at Southwark Crown Court deliberated for more than 46 hours.
According to Reuters, the verdict marks a setback for British authorities, who launched their investigation into the corruption allegations more than a decade ago.
Alison-Madueke stood trial alongside Olatimbo Ayinde, who faced one count of bribery involving Alison-Madueke and another count of bribing a foreign public official.
Her brother, Doye Agama, was also charged with conspiracy to commit bribery over alleged payments made to Agama’s church.
Both Ayinde and Agama pleaded not guilty and were acquitted by the jury.