The minister of petroleum resources, Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke, has been vindicated by a Vienna-based Regional Court for Criminal Matters over an alleged purchase of a 20 million euro mansion in the Austrian capital last November.
Slamming the Heute newspaper of Vienna over the phantom story, in a ruling made in pursuant of an application brought before the court by Alison-Madueke, the Judge ordered AHVV Verlags GmbH, owners of the Heute newspaper, to do a ‘’public revocation’’ by publishing a counter-statement in the newspaper within five working days from the announcement of the verdict.
A statement issued by the yesterday by the group general manager, public affairs of the NNPC, Dr. Levi Ajuonuma, informed that, in line with the ruling, the Heute newspaper has since published the retraction cum counter-statement whose German to English translation read thus:
“The story was published on November 7, 2011, under? the headline ‘Minister from a Country of Hunger.’
The retraction further stated: “This statement of facts is false. The Hon. Minister Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke did not buy any real estate in Austria, in particular no house or villa in Vienna for several million Euros. Further, the Hon. Minister Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke did not “praise the large garden and the architectural masterpiece’ on the internet as alleged.” ?