Lawyer to former Nigerian oil minister Diezani Alison-Madueke has told a British court that she had no influence over the awarding of lucrative government contracts and was merely a “rubber stamp” for official recommendations. The lawyer stated this on Thursday while testifying at London’s Southwark Crown Court, where the former minister is facing her corruption trial. Alison-Madueke, minister for petroleum resources between 2010 and 2015 under then-president Goodluck Jonathan, has pleaded not guilty to five counts of accepting bribes and a charge of conspiracy to commit bribery. But her lawyer Jonathan Laidlaw told jurors that purchases were made on Alison-Madueke’s behalf “because Nigerian ministers are forbidden from having bank accounts abroad”, according to Reuters. Their co-defendant Olatimbo Ayinde, 54, has pleaded not guilty to one count of bribing Alison-Madueke between 2012 and 2014 and one count of bribery of a foreign public official.