Former petroleum minister Diezani Alison-Madueke appeared in a London court on Monday where she is charged with receiving bribes in return for awarding oil contracts.
Alison-Madueke served as minister under the Goodluck Jonathan administration between 2010 and 2015.
She was arrested in London in 2015 shortly after leaving office but was on police bail for the past eight years.
UK authorities allege that as minister she took bribes in the form of cash, luxury goods, and flights on private jets in exchange for oil contracts. She was charged in August.
In court
In her first court appearance at Westminster Magistrates Court, the prosecutor, Andy Young, said Alison-Madueke allegedly accepted bribes in cash and in kind from people who wanted oil contracts worth billions of dollars in total.
He said the advantages included a delivery of 100,000 pounds ($121,620) in cash, the payment of private school fees for her son, and the use and refurbishment of several luxurious properties in London and in the English countryside.
They also included the use of a Range Rover car, payment of bills for chauffeur-driven cars, furniture, and purchases from the upmarket London department store Harrods and from Vincenzo Caffarella, which sells Italian decorative arts and antiques, according to Reuters.
The former minister spoke only to give her name, date of birth and address. She was not asked to enter a plea.
She is the second high-profile Nigerian politician to face prosecution in the UK in recent years. Former Delta state governor James Ibori was convicted of fraud and money-laundering in 2012 and received a 13-year jail sentence.
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