Deziani: How N3.7 Billion UK House Put Ex-Minister In Trouble (Full gist)

THERE were indications on Monday on how a former Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke and a former Managing Director o

f a parastatal under the NNPC got themselves into trouble with the police in the United Kingdom.

The PUNCH learnt that the purchase of houses each in London by the former minister and the sacked NNPC top shot had sent the police investigators after them since 2013.

Alison-Madueke and the ex-MD had bought a house each in London through a mortgage but the two were said to have attracted suspicion when they offered to pay huge sum to clear the mortgage on the properties.

A source said the ex-minister's house cost £12.5m. The source was however silent on the cost of the house bought by the former MD of the subsidiary of the NNPC.

It was learnt that the UK's National Crimes Agency had dispatched a team to Abuja for an investigation into the incomes of the affected public officers because of the huge amount of money that was being paid steadily to defray the amount on the mortgage.

The source explained that the police suspected that the mortgaged London properties might have been serviced with laundered money from the Government of Nigeria.

The source said, "This particular investigation did not originate from Nigeria. I can tell you that this is different from the investigation being conducted by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission into the financial operations of the NNPC under Alison-Madueke.

"This is a strictly UK investigation and it has to do with the procurement of a property in the UK for £12.5m through a mortgage arrangement in London.

"The UK authorities became suspicious when they realised that the agreed monthly amount for the mortgage was too high for the income of a public official without other sources of income.

"You know the (UK) people; they kept quiet when the whole arrangement was going on in 2013. They allowed the funds to go into their economy before they moved in against them with the intent to seize the properties.

"She was not the only person that bought the properties. The other guy, a close ally from the NNPC also bought a house in London. These are the issues the UK police are investigating."