Nigeria’s former minister of petroleum resources, Diezani Alison-Madueke, has appeared before the Southwark Crown Court in London, UK, for the preliminary hearing of her bribery-related prosecution.

On Monday, Justice Thornton put the matter on the Court 8 cause list.

Prior to the start of her full trial on January 26, 2026, Alison-Madueke appeared in court for the preliminary hearing.

The UK government accused the former minister of accepting a £100,000 bribe in August 2023.

Diezani was accused by the UK’s National Crime Agency (NCA) of accepting bribes in exchange for awarding multimillion-pound oil and gas contracts when she was in government.

During the Goodluck Jonathan administration, Alison-Madueke served as the minister of petroleum resources from 2010 to 2015. In 2014, she was also chosen as the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries’ (OPEC) president.

Alison-Madueke was given £70,000 in bail in October 2023.

After determining that Alison-Madueke was “a flight risk,” the Westminster magistrates court placed additional restrictions on her.

She had to wear an electronic tag at all times, adhere to a curfew from 11 p.m. to 6 a.m., and pay a £70,000 bond before she could leave the court premises.

An asset return agreement for $52.88 million seized from the Galactica assets connected to Alison-Madueke was reached in January 2025 by the Nigerian government and the United States.

The US authorities said that Alison-Madueke and her friends used the “proceeds of those illicitly awarded contracts” to buy the Galactica Star, a 65-meter superyacht, and opulent real properties in California and New York.

The former Nigerian government official’s assets were also targeted by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).