JUST IN: Okonjo-Iweala Says $2.4bn Subsidy Fraud Probe Led To Her Mother's Kidnap

World Trade Organisation Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala says her probe into a $2.4bn fuel subsidy fraud brought threats against her and led to the kidnap of her mother in 2012.

She made the claim while recalling her time as Nigeria's finance minister, when her office worked to check the claims that fuel importers submitted for subsidy payments. She says the push to block doubtful payments made powerful interests angry.

Her mother, Professor Kamene Okonjo, was taken from her home in Ogwashi-Uku, Delta State, in December 2012. She spent five days with her captors before she was freed. At the time, Okonjo-Iweala accused oil marketers who lost out on payments of being behind the kidnap, and said the kidnappers told her mother the abduction was over unpaid subsidy money.

Okonjo-Iweala says the experience was one of the hardest moments of her life. She has since spoken often about the personal price she paid for taking on corruption in the oil sector.