The British National Crime Agency has dispatched a team of detectives to Nigeria who are now working with the operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission to probe Diezani Alison-Madueke, Nigeria's former Petroleum Minister, during the administration of ex-President Goodluck Jonathan.
Punch Reports that the team of investigators from the UK Police was drawn from the Seizures Organised Crimes Agency.
A top operative of the EFCC, who spoke to one of our correspondents on condition of anonymity on Saturday, said the SOCA team had been involved in a discreet investigation of Alison-Madueke for two months before they finally moved against her.
The former petroleum minister left Nigeria shortly before the inauguration of President Muhammadu Buhari in May this year.
It was further gathered that the team from SOCA had been working alongside a team of EFCC operatives from the Subsidy Unit led by a Chief Superintendent of Police.
The EFCC team was constituted in August 2015 by the Chairman of the anti-corruption agency, Ibrahim Lamorde, to investigate the activities of Alison-Madueke and the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation.
The SU team was mandated to probe all the accounts of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, which were under the supervision of the former minister.
SUNDAY PUNCH gathered on Saturday that the intensified investigation into the activities of the former minister was being supervised by Lamorde and the Director of Operations of the EFCC, Mr. Olusola Adegbite.
Investigations further showed that the operatives from the subsidy unit of the EFCC carried out the operation at Alison-Madueke's Asokoro residence in Abuja, following her arrest on Friday.
An operative of the commission, who spoke on condition of anonymity, disclosed that the EFCC's subsidy team ransacked the residence of the former minister for hours.
It was further stated that the operatives later got the keys and searched all the rooms in the house for hours before they carted away the files.
The source said, "When our operatives got there, there was nobody in the building. What they did was to get the security men who were working with her to guide them through the building.
"They entered the building through one of the windows and later found the keys with which they accessed all the rooms. They found some documents in some files and they carted them away."
Similarly, the NCA has revealed that contrary to speculations, that the corruption investigation leading to the arrest of Nigeria's former Petroleum Minister started in 2013.
The Nigerian media, both the traditional and social media platforms, were awash with reports that it was President Buhari's recent meeting with the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, David Cameron, and other world leaders that led to the investigation and arrest of Alison-Madueke.
The ex-minister and current President of the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries was arrested on Friday by the NCA's recently formed International Corruption Unit, along with four other persons.
She was arrested in London as part of an investigation into suspected bribery and money laundering offences.
Alison-Madueke was, however, granted bail but her passport was withheld by the British authorities, pending further investigations, both in the UK and other countries.
In an update on its website, the NCA noted that the investigation started about two years ago.
"The investigation commenced in 2013 under the Proceeds of Corruption Unit, and transferred to the NCA earlier this year (2015). The International Corruption Unit investigates bribery of foreign public officials by individuals or companies from the UK and money laundering by corrupt foreign officials and their associates," it stated.
The UK crime agency added that the ICU would also trace and recover the proceeds of Alison-Madueke's alleged corruption and support Nigeria's law enforcement agencies with international anti-corruption investigations.
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