The first woman president of OPEC and Nigeria’s former oil minister, Diezani Alison-Madueke, was cleared of bribery charges in a UK trial Wednesday, her defence lawyers said in a statement.

The trial was brought by the UK’s National Crime Agency (NCA), which targets serious organised and international crime, after a years-long investigation concerning alleged offences between 2011 and 2015.

Laidlaw told the jury at the London court in January that there was a “gross delay” in the charges being brought, resulting in “a great deal of material which would have established her innocence” being denied.

She had been accused of accepting “financial or other advantages” from individuals linked to two energy companies that had secured contracts with Nigeria’s state-owned petroleum corporation when she was the country’s oil minister.

Alison-Madueke had also been accused by prosecutors of enjoying a “life of luxury” funded by those interested in the lucrative oil and gas contracts.

Blaze 91.5 FM