By Martins Idaho
DP0000445 This is not a policeman number nor a university matriculation number. This is Diezani’s Alison-Madueke Dominican Republic Diplomatic Passport number!
Law is generally classified into criminal and civil. This classification, according to Glanville Williams, is artificial. Whether that observation of the learned Professor of Law is sustainable or not is not the issue here. The concern is; which class of law should embezzlement of public funds be? Should the suspect be prosecuted under criminal or civil law?
The implications of either choice are quite different and not equally rewarding. If prosecuted under criminal law and procedure, the prosecution has the task of proving beyond a reasonable doubt; the State pays all expenses incurred by the prosecution, takes care of the Defendant if he is in detention produces him in court and also has to get witnesses to court.
Where the Defendant is found guilty and jailed, many times the stolen fund is not recovered or a significant part of it is unrealizable. If prosecuted under the law of trusts however, the result is different; the fund is traced and the defendant is made to regurgitate the embezzled sum and account for profit made therefrom.
The technicalities of civil proceedings are less and the standard of proof is less stringent. Politicians in the Caribbean are said to be involved in a corrupt trade of diplomatic posts in exchange for money, an Al Jazeera investigation revealed back on 27 Nov 2019.
In Diplomats for Sale, Al Jazeera’s Investigative Unit exposed politicians in Dominica and Grenada willing to accept secret campaign contributions from wealthy foreign businessmen in exchange for diplomatic passports.
In Dominica, members of both main political parties appear willing to receive money in return for a political post, allegations they strongly deny.
During the week fresh evidence emerged on how Nigeria’s former Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs Diezani Allison-Madueke, plotted and secured a Dominican Republic citizenship and political appointment, in order to secure immunity from prosecution by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, under President Muhammadu Buhari, for alleged massive corruption.
Mrs Diezani carefully planned and obtained the citizenship of the Commonwealth of the Dominican Republic, which subsequently appointed her as a Trade and Investment Commissioner in the country.
To show that the appointment and offer of citizenship were not accidental, Diezani’s offer and acceptance were completed a few days before she left office in Nigeria, on June 1, 2015, barely two days before the expiration of her tenure on May 29, 2015.
According to the documents, she had perfected arrangements with the Office of the Prime Minister, Commonwealth of Dominica, and lobbied to be appointed as the Trade and Investment Commissioner, with effect from June 1, 2015.
The lobby actually worked; in a letter dated May 29, 2015, and signed by Dominican Prime Minister, Roosevelt Kerry, Diezani was offered not only the citizenship of Dominica, a Caribbean Island but also an appointment as the Trade and Investment Commissioner.
The offer also entailed the issuance of a Diplomatic Passport on May 21, 2015, with an expiry date of May 20, 2020, to the formerly powerful and influential Minister.
Although the Diplomatic visa expired on May 20, this year, she is said to be immune from arrest and prosecution by any law enforcement agency, including the INTERPOL.
This is due to the fact that the 32-page Diplomatic Passport, contains a restraining order against any arrest or prosecution.
The strange immunity order says: “The President of the Commonwealth of Dominica requests and requires in the name of the Government of Dominica, all those whom it may concern, to allow the bearer to pass freely without let or hindrance, and afford the bearer such assistance and protection as may be necessary.”
In the appointment letter issued by Prime Minister Kerry, Diezani was assigned the task of “directing promotion and marketing of Dominica as a Trade and Investment domicile, as well as an emerging and unique tourist destination in the Caribbean”.
Kerry’s letter said: “I envisage you playing an active role in the coordination of roadshows, and trade and investment expositions, as well as providing facilitator services to businessmen interested in investing or doing business with the Caribbean region. Dominica is ideally placed and equipped to serve as the perfect hub for such commercial activities in this region.”
Diezani is believed to be busy working for the Commonwealth of Dominica, strengthened by a Diplomatic shield, which no law enforcement agency around the world can ignore.
Besides, her British citizenship is another protective hedge she has been using against repatriation to Nigeria, to answer overwhelming charges of corruption against her.
Diezani is awaiting trial for sundry allegations of corruption, including fraudulent ownership of 76 properties in Lagos, Abuja, and Port Harcourt, in Nigeria, valued at about N23 billion.
Besides, she has a 14-count charge bordering on stealing and concealment of $153 million, already preferred against her by the EFCC.
on 27 November 2014. She became Nigeria’s minister of transportation on 26 July 2007 She was moved to Mines and Steel Development in 2008, and in April 2010 was appointed Minister of Petroleum Resources.
The actions taken by the former Minister show no remorse or empathy towards her actions that drained the coffers of the Nation for personal gain. She now roams freely with impunity aided and abetted by a foreign government acting now in superior defence and protection mode. For Diezanis arrest and repatriation to be possible at this point, Nigerians who are interested parties in the United Kingdom and around the world may have to join forces and work twice as hard, with authorities like the EFCC to mount pressure for her arrest or public demand her trial.
In the past, we have seen this occur when the Dikko affair became a notoriously famous attempt at repatriation although failed.
The Dikko affair was a joint Nigerian-Israeli attempt to kidnap Umaru Dikko, a former Nigerian civilian government minister living in the United Kingdom, in 1984, and secretly transport him back to Nigeria in a diplomatic bag. Although The kidnapping took place, transportation was unsuccessful.
