Nigerian Politician Ibori Appeals Against UK Fraud Conviction

BY ESTELLE SHIRBON

FILE PHOTO: James Ibori, former governor of Nigeria's Delta State, speaks after a court hearing outside the Royal Courts of Justice in London, Britain, January 31, 2017. REUTERS/Estelle Shirbon/File Photo

LONDON (REUTERS) - James Ibori, a Nigerian politician who spent years in UK jails after pleading guilty to laundering a stolen fortune in Britain, launched an appeal against his conviction on Wednesday, alleging corruption in the ranks of British police.

At stake are about 90 million pounds ($130 million) of Ibori’s assets, which have been frozen for years. The British authorities aim to confiscate them and return them to the Nigerian state, but if Ibori’s conviction were overturned he would regain control of them.

As governor of oil-producing Delta State from 1999 to 2007, Ibori became one of Nigeria’s most powerful men and enjoyed a millionaire lifestyle, with properties and luxury cars in several countries. At the time of his arrest he was in the process of buying a $20 million private jet.

His conviction in 2012, after he admitted 10 counts of fraud and money-laundering, was a rare example of a big player in Nigerian politics being held to account for the corruption that has blighted Africa’s most populous nation.

But Ibori’s lawyers allege that one of the British police officers who investigated him took bribes in 2007 from a private detective, hired by a British law firm working for Ibori, in return for inside information about the police investigation.

They also allege that British anti-corruption police who were supposed to investigate the alleged bribery instead covered it up to avoid scuppering Ibori’s trial and tarnishing the reputation of the police.

All the people against whom allegations of corruption or bad faith have been made have denied them.

The appeal hearing, being held before three judges at London’s Court of Appeal, is due to last three days.

Ibori was released from jail in December 2016 after serving half of his 13-year sentence, as is normal in Britain, and he returned to Nigeria in February 2017. He has re-emerged in public life there and been feted at various events.

He was due to give evidence on Wednesday via video-link from Nigeria, and he appeared briefly on a screen in court, but the connection was lost and could not be restored. The court was told a power cut in Nigeria was the reason for the glitch.


Despite being a major oil and gas producer, Nigeria has daily electricity cuts - a result of decades of corruption and mismanagement in the power sector.

The judges instructed that a new attempt be made to establish a video-link to Ibori on Thursday.


Editing by Stephen Addison

Jailed Nigerian ex-governor said owned 30 percent of Oando - prosecutor

By Estelle Shirbon
London, September 17, 2013

(Reuters) - Jailed former Nigerian oil state governor James Ibori told a Swiss private bank in 2004 that he owned 30 percent of oil firm Oando (OANDO.LG), which paid $1.2 million into his account that year, a prosecutor told a British court on Tuesday.

The court also heard that PKB Privatbank had in an internal document likened Ibori, who governed oil-producing Delta State from 1999 to 2007 and influenced national Nigerian politics, to a scion of the Kennedy dynasty in the United States.


Ibori was jailed for 13 years in Britain after pleading guilty in February 2012 to 10 counts of fraud and money-laundering worth 50 million pounds ($79.5 million). Prosecutors say his total wealth was likely to be far greater than that.

Details of Ibori's assets and how he kept them hidden from the public gaze through a web of shell companies and foreign bank accounts are being disclosed as part of a three-week confiscation hearing which began in London on Monday.

One of the biggest embezzlement cases seen in Britain, Ibori's is also a rare example of a senior Nigerian politician being held to account for the corruption that has held back Africa's most populous nation and top oil producer.

Prosecutor Sasha Wass told Southwark Crown Court on Tuesday that in 2004, Ibori had opened an account at Lugano-based PKB in the name of a shell company called Stanhope Investments.

 

Quoting from internal PKB documents, Wass told the court that Ibori had presented himself to the bank as the owner of an insurance company, half of a bank and 30 percent of Oando.

She said that a total of $1.2 million flowed into the PKB account from Oando in three payments that year which had later been channelled to other accounts and were part of funds intended for the purchase of a $20 million private jet.

Shares in Oando, Nigeria's biggest home-grown oil company, fell by 10 percent in Lagos on Tuesday following the first allegation by Wass on Monday that Ibori had hidden assets in the firm.
KENNEDYS

Oando said on Monday that Ibori had only an "insignificant" holding in the firm and also said it had sold $2.7 million of its foreign exchange earnings for naira in 2004 to a company that had later turned out to be controlled by Ibori, but it did not know that at the time.

Wass told the court on Tuesday that despite his assets being restrained in 2008, Ibori had after that date continued to live a lavish lifestyle, travel and pay fees to the English boarding school where his three children were being educated.

Combined with Ibori's track record of hiding his assets, this led to the "irresistible inference" that Ibori had further hidden assets which investigators had not yet uncovered, she said, adding that one option of where these might be was Oando.

Wass also quoted from an internal PKB report from 2004 which said Ibori came from one of a few Nigerian families which had for decades developed the oil industry in that country.

"We could compare these families with the Kennedy dynasty which also mixed business and politics," the bank document said.

Another excerpt said Ibori was "an extremely rich man as he was doing a lot of business before becoming governor".

PKB, which is fully owned by the Luxembourg-listed Compagnie de l'Occident pour la Finance et l'Industrie COFK.LU did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

In the early 1990s Ibori worked as a cashier at Wickes, a home improvement chainstore in London. He was convicted of theft in 1991 after being caught taking money from the till. A property he and his wife had bought in a London suburb was repossessed as the couple could not meet mortgage payments.

During his time as governor, however, he amassed a property portfolio worth at least $6.9 million as well as a fleet of luxury cars including a Bentley and a Maybach 62.

($1 = 0.6288 British pounds)

(Editing by Mike Collett-White)

NIGERIA: Ibori’s Alleged $15m Bribe: Court To Hear Delta’s Suit July 10

By Eric Ikhilae

The Nation, June 17, 2013

A Federal High Court in Abuja will on July 10 hear the application by Delta State Government, seeking to claim the $15million bribe allegedly offered former Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Nuhu Ribadu, by jailed ex-Governor James Ibori.

The bribe was allegedly meant by Ibori to stop the EFCC from further investigating him for his alleged massive looting of his state while in office.

Justice Gabriel Kolawole fixed the date yesterday, following a recent ruling by the Court of Appeal, Abuja, striking out an application by a Lagos refrigerator repairer, Olalekan Bayode, seeking to halt further hearing in a suit pending the hearing of his appeal.

When the case was called yesterday, parties were set to argue the state’s application, but the court said it was inconvenient in view of its tight schedule and directed them to choose a fresh date.

The Federal Government had applied for an order of forfeiture and to direct the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), where Ribadu had lodged the bribe money to release it to the government should no one show up to claim the money.

The Delta State Government later claimed ownership of the money. It is part of its contention that Ibori, being its governor when the bribe money was offered, must have taken the money from its coffers.

Before the state’s application could be heard, Bayode applied that he be appointed as a manager to disburse the $15 million to indigents, especially widows and orphans, through a charity organisation.

He applied to be joined in the case and prayed that the money be released to him.

Justice Kolawole dismissed Bayode’s application for being frivolous and lacking in merit.

The judge held, among others that Bayode failed to show sufficient grounds and interest upon which the money in dispute should be released to him.

Justice Kolawole held that Bayode only claimed to be a Nigerian and refrigerator repairer based at Alagbado in Lagos.

The judge further held that the Federal Government, which instituted the case, did not ask for a manager for the fund, but applied that those with interest in the money should indicate before an order of forfeiture is made in its favour.

Justice Kolawole described Bayode as a busy body, meddlesome interloper and one, who was out to mock the judiciary and the issue at stake.

Nigerian Jungle Blues and Friday Cartoons

The Federal High Court in Asaba has quashed the 170 charges the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) preferred against former Delta State Governor, James Ibori, alleging that he mismanaged huge public funds while in office.The case, instituted two years ago, ended on Thursday when Justice Marcel Awokulehin, who said he trod “the part of caution” struck it out. He arrived in court at 9.30 a.m. and began by recounting how the suit went from the Federal High Court, Kaduna to Asaba. MORE @ DAILY INDEPENDENT


“In the event of any need to engage in politics of succession, it is the position of ACF that the provisions of the Nigerian Constitution remain the only effective guide for the process,” the group said in a communiqué at the end of separate meetings of its National Working Committee, NWC, and the National Executive Council, NEC, in Kaduna yesterday. MORE @ VANGUARD


SOURCE: SUN NEWS ONLINE


SORCE: GUARDIAN


SOURCE: DAILY TRUST

Naija in Brief, Early Tuesday, Feb 12, 2008

After being slammed for laundering funds totaling four billion Naira plus, former Edo State Governor, Lucky Igbinedion was granted bail in Enugu where he had been remanded in custody since January. Igbinedion's bail has some strings attached to it. He is required to pay ten million Naira to the court and must provide two sureties who are permanent secretaries, and are credible with good track records of paying their taxes.

Well, I'm not sure if this is just a gimmick, a tactic to fool the public that justice and the rule of law is taking its full course. Who is fooling who here? What makes the High Court sitting in Enugu to assume the accused will go through hell in order to come up with the conditions of his bail? It's no big deal. These guys got money stashed somewhere. I'm not saying they shoudn't be granted bail. After all, what Igbinedion is accused of is a bailable offense, but my problem with the whole thing is this: will this guy be prosecuted to the limit of the law when he appears in court for trial considering how he looted public funds? I hope the courts pays attention to what he did to his people, leaving his poor folks empty and dry, wallowing in poverty.

Enter James Ibori who was also granted bail on Monday in the sum of fifty million Naira. Justice Mohammed Lawal Shuaibu in Kaduna High Court also required Ibori to provide sureties with properties in like sum as conditions of his bail.

But I do have a problem with Ibori's unnecessary compassion thanking all and sundry for their support since his incanceration two months ago. Listen to this:

My thanks also go to all Nigerians from all walks of life, who personally visited me in Kaduna, sent representatives or offered prayers — for their solidarity, support and unsurpassed love throughout these two months of detention. I particularly thank all the good people of Delta State. I extend such thanks too to politicians of various backgrounds and from all over Nigeria, most especially the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) leadership and political family, for their unwavering support, uncommon confidence and huge out-pouring of love. I also wish to use this opportunity to assure Nigerians of my preparedness to pursue this case to its final conclusion for the growth and development of our nascent democracy. My confidence in the Nigerian Judiciary remains unshaken and I trust that at the end of this ordeal, justice will prevail.

Who cares about his pussyfooting. It's late and he must pay for his sins that caused the people of Delta State pain and sufferings. Of course, Ibori wishes to enhance the nations democratic fabric by justice prevailing for a man who looted his own state's treasury with impunity as chief executive. The thing is I hope EFCC and the judicial system lives up to its creed by dealing with all the corrupt politicians to the limit of the law.

Here they come again. According to a report by Emeka Anuforo of the Guardian Newspapers, Umaru Yar'Adua's administration has taken a bold step to revive the rural areas of the country with an initial amount for the project to cost about two hundred and eighty four point sixty four billion Naira. The idea is projected to take out thirty million Nigerians from the poverty line by 2011.

The question here is, how are they going to effect such a gigantic project when the local government chairmen are on standby waiting for any revenue that crosses their way? The possibility of such a task is far fetched considering what these local government chairmen have done in the past. They are not worried about going to jail like their predecessors. All they care is "money in my pocket first" and jail later. That's how it works in a corrupt and failed state. There are no two ways to go about it. So forget it Mr. President.

The News reported that officials of EFCC and journalists were attacked in a training seminar organized by the Wole Soyinka Award for Investigative Journalism. This is craziness when one considers how we writers and journalists help keep the government in check and yet hoodlums and democratic gangsters would not let press freedom to prevail. Just read The News and other Naija papers including the tabloids and see the kind of nonsense that has taken shape in that banana republic.

The Week In Review Sunday, December 23, 2007

The arrest and detention of James Onanefe Ibori made headlines all across Nigeria. He had become a celebrity within the spheres of the nation's criminal justice system when operatives of the Economic and Finanacial Crimes Commission whisked him away for what the media thought was intended for questioning. The trailing of Ibori by federal agents came to a halt when he was arrested in Abuja on December 13, 2007 when EFCC nabbed him at his Abuja guest house. According to Ibori's spokesman, Tony Elumenor , he said Ibori was not moved by the events that landed him in EFCC net. Of course, he shouldn't be moved when some of his loots are still somewhere without trace and while his supporters are out there backing him is what beats me.

While we are at it, former minister in the military regime of Ibrahim Babangida, Professor Osamor collapsed and died while visting Ibori in jail. Ibori's troubles has just begun as his former personal secretary, Bimpe Pogoson and his sister Christie Ibie will be appearing "before the City of Westminister Magistrate's Court in London" on January 8, 2008, "for aiding Ibori in his alleged money laundering activities. It's about time the rule of law takes its course putting into perspective a sound democratic fabric.

The legal system seemingly is becoming independent and all pumped up. We are beginning to see trasparency and accountability unfold in the polity. After an intense "manhunt" by the EFFCC on former governor of Anambra State, Chris Ngige, coupled with legal tussles and loopholes which made the former governor evade federal agents, the erstwhile governor turned himself in to EFCC for interrogation. He was not arrested after questioning.

Now they wouldn't let Olusegun Obasanjo and his daughter go. The authourities are all over his case. First, it was the monster Obasanjo created that is after Iyabo Obasanjo-Bello on many complicated reasons ranging from impersonation to fabricated documents. What OBJ helped built may take him down with his daughter.Olusola Fabiyi and Musikilu Mojeed reports from Abuja in a statement by the EFCC on its ongoing investigation;

“The attention of the EFCC has been drawn to several media
reports on allegations of a contract misadventure said to involve Senator Iyabo
Obasanjo-Bello. “The dispute was first reported to the EFCC in July 2006 via a
petition from Rickey Tarfa & Co., acting on behalf of M. Scheneider (Nig.) Ltd.,
among whose directors was Prince Albert Awofisayo. “In the course of investigation, the parties to the dispute were invited and they made statements to the Commission. At the time, there was not a single mention of Senator Obasanjo-Bello by anyone.” The EFCC said it then concluded that the case was a case of contractual disagreement between businessmen and no crime was disclosed or unearthed. The commission, the statement added, consequently advised the disputants as to the nature of the matter and that it being civil in nature, they should settle it among themselves. The EFCC said it had the impression that the parties had heeded the commission’s advice and
sought local and international arbitration. “However, virtually the same complaint, but with a new information alleging impersonation by Senator Obasanjo-Bello has just been forwarded to the EFCC. Following the submission of the new petition to the commission, the EFCC is looking into the matter with a view to determining whether a crime that falls within its purview has been committed, in which case, the commission would take prompt action."

Well, Obasanjo created the bad cop image EFCC giving the commission too much power and now his own daughter is beginning to get the taste of her father's medicine. Ironically while Obasanjo-Bello is being drilled, her father is now under the eye of National Assembly's microscope. Ah haa!

The militant group, Movement for the Emancipation of Niger Delta (MEND) is not giving in. It is a do or die situation. These gang of hoodlums are pissed the government has used Vice President Goodluck Jonathan and the Chief of Defense Staff, General Andrew Azazi as rubber stamps. Shola O'Neil reports from Warri:

The face-off between Ijaw militants in the Niger Delta and the Federal Government degenerated at the weekend as the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) threatened to deal with Vice President Goodluck Jonathan and Chief of Defence Staff, Gen. Andrew Azazi, for allegedly being used against their kinsmen.
Although MEND said it was awaiting the return of the top government functionaries to their various homes, it did not disclose how it planned to deal with them.

"We want to vow that as Gen Andrew Azazi and Dr Goodluck Jonathan have choosen to kill and destroy their people for the Federal Government, we want to also remind them that we are closely watching their actions as we know that they will surely come back home one day!" the group said in an email statement.

Quoting from a leaked security brief prepared by the Joint Task Force (JTF) MEND accused the Federal Government of using the appointment of their kinsmen to buy time in an allegedly planned military agenda.

MEND said the document entitled "Brief for Chief of Defence Staff on Strategies to stem out militant activities Within The Joint Task Force Operation Restore Hope area of responsibility", was prepared by JTF’s Major General Lawrence Ngubane a few months ago...

With the neo-democratic fabric, Nigera appears to be fracturing along its educational programme as the Federal Government is about to "opt out" of the one laptop per child programme at the expence of the government. That one beats me and I wonder what the Minister of Education, Dr. Igwe Aja-Nwachukwu will be thinking right now. The One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) founded by MIT Professor Emeritus, Nicholas Negroponte with the desired mission to make laptops to children all over the world is about to be history in Nigeria.

Nigeria in Brief Tuesday, December 18, 2007

Nigeria will never seize to amaze me. Some say Naija is great while some dwell on the fact that the country is still a jungle where it is only the fittest that survives. Checking out the news of the day and looking at the picture captured by Vanguard, I wondered what must have driven James Ibori supporters to Kaduna protesting and demanding for the corrupt politician's release. The Ibori supporters should have been arrested for disturbing the peace at a courthouse where silence is normally golden. Well, that's politics, I guess. But the question here is, have these angry supporters of Ibori taken a closer look at themselves, how haggard they looked while Ibori was squandering their money? Now who is next among the two notorious bandits? Peter Odili or Lucky Igbinedion?

Anyways, I am beginning to see some changes unfold in that country. The rule of law seems to be taking shape with the judiaciary making a whole lot of sense. Ibori had been denied bail, but the point is, Ibori and his mistress Uzoamaka Okoronkwo's charges are bailable and they will be spending the Christmas and New Year in jail. The embattled ex-Governor and his mistress will know their fate on January 11, 2008, when they return to court to face Justice Mohammed Shauibu. The so-called former "intelligence Czar" seems to be chilling which pops up the question why he should be denied his medication on the ground that he stole from the state and used his powers to deny the people of Delta a proper medical care. He should be allowed to get a taste of his own medicine.

Check this out: The Guardian Newspapers reports that the administration of Umar Yar'Adua has ordered a "massive importation of fuel" to meet up with demands during the Christmas and New Year celebrations. Ain't that something? I'm not sure if the refineries are not producing enough oil but I'm quite sure something is wrong somewhere when the oil regulating agencies are not coming up to terms with reality knowing that they should be held responsible for the loopholes that enables oil pirates and bunkerers get away with billion barrels of oil per day. In another related incident, ex-governor of Ekiti State, Ayodele Fayose was also remanded in prison custody until January when he will know his fate and the charges levelled against him.

Interestingly, China and Egypt, once borrowers from International Development Association (IDA) that help poor nations fight poverty are now donors and part of a $21.1 billion aid that would make life meaningful to the poorer nations. When will the "oil-rich" Nigeria join these group of volunteers? My guess is NEVER! Maybe, until Ibrahim Babangida coughs out all the billions of dollars he stole selling oil during the Gulf War.

In the upcoming African Nations Cup to be held in Ghana, a whole lot of noise is being made about the Nigerian squad hanging in there with all desperations to capture the trophy for the first time since 1994 when the iron man, Sani Abacha was the junta of the day. Watford's Danny Shittu will be joining the Eagles squad as the Golden Eagles are not about to be taking any chances. I think Ghana has better chances with home advantage.

Well, Yar'Adua is talking. From last weekend's local council elections that was marred with irregularities, the nation's first man is no longer taking things for granted. He has summoned the 36 state governors, stakeholders and party leaders to a meeting regarding allegations of fraud in the said elections held on Saturday, December, 15, 2007.

The Hype of Arrests and Corrupt Politicians in Nigeria

I am just laughing my black ass off taking a look at what the jokers have turned Nigeria into. Reading today's news, I'm still cracking up and I think it's now affecting my ribs. Today you will hear that one "vagabond in power" is arrested for stealing public funds and on the next breath the story dramatically changes, and the so-called vagabond in power is released on bail never to be charged again. Then, the media hype trails the story and when one vulnereable journalist or arranger gets paid, the whole brouhaha dies, just like that. The arrest of former governor of Delta State, James Onanefe "Odigborigbo" Ibori shouldn't be any different from the arrests of Orji Kalu, Joshua Dariye, Jolly Tevoru and the rest former rogue politicians who were bent on stealing public funds. As Ibori would be probably charged today in a Kaduna Court and probably remanded in custody or granted bail, it is most likely that a deal would be struck in his favor, as long as he's got the cash that would enable him get back on the streets. No big deal! Kalu is out there still talking with no sign of his case popping up in the courts anytime soon.

But one begins to wonder, of all the arrests and threats to arrest, no one including Mallam Ribadu's EFCC has mentioned or given the public a clue why the former governor of Imo State, Achike Udenwa, shouldn't by now be arrested for the damages and pains he caused to the people of Imo. Udenwa stole from all angles and yet he is scot-free and nobody is mentioning his name for looting the treasury of Imo State. If one should take a closer look, Ibori is a saint compared to Udenwa which makes the whole arrest thing a big joke and a mockery of Nigeria's fledgling democratic fabric. I'm not sure if the nations top cop, Ribadu, is taking a closer look judging from public opinion when he is making all these arrests and leaving out the culprits who destroyed every aspect of civil liberty.

Let's just take a look at charges levelled against public officials since the beginning of the Fourth Republic. It's too numerous to mention, but the fact of the matter is none of the subjects spent time in jail with the exception of the former police chief, Tafa Balogun.

And while Ibori's arrest is all over the news, a sitting governor in one of the North Western states is said to be under the microscope of EFCC for inflated contracts in the said state. Idowu Samuel of the Nigerian Tribune reports:

A governor from one of the North West states is said to have attracted the attention of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) by awarding contracts running into several billions of naira without recourse to due process. The state governor, who himself had probed his predecessor for alleged corrupt enrichment, according to Nigerian Tribune investigations, is now being probed by the EFCC following tips from aggrieved members of his cabinet. A petition by some members of his government now before the anti-graft agency was said to have alleged that the governor had been using his relatives and fronts in the award of contracts. The petitioners had prayed the EFCC to investigate the governor for money laundering. They claimed that all the contracts being handled by the fronts and relations were not listed in the budget. They also claimed that the contracts did not pass through the tenders’ board, thereby violating Due Process in the award process. A top source at the EFCC confirmed that the governor was one of those being investigated.


Ending up this note, it has been confirmed that Ibori bribed EFCC officials with $15m. Imagine, and Desmond Utomwen and Adi Femi of The News reports from the High Court sitting in Kaduna:

Details of how former governor of Delta State, James Ibori, attempted to subvert justice by bribing EFCC officials with $15 million (about N1.8 billion) emerged this morning at the Federal High Court, Kaduna, where he is being tried for alleged money laundering.

Ibori and four others were this morning arraigned on a 103-count charge of money laundering and abuse of office.

The EFCC, in one of the charges, alleged that Ibori on 26 April, 2007 made a cash payment of N1.8 billion ($15m) to EFCC investigators in order to influence their investigation.

According to the EFCC, the offence is contrary to and punishable under section 15(2) of the Money Laundering (Prohibition) Act.

The EFCC also alleged that Ibori on 31 December, 2004, collaborated with Lipopo Nigeria Limited to conceal the genuine origin of the sum of N280 million to buy Afribank shares in the names of fictitious persons.

Another charge accused him of collaborating with Kent to conceal the genuine origin of N220 million by using same to buy Afribank shares in the name of fictitious persons.

Ibori was also alleged to have transferred the sum of N5 billion from the account of the Delta State government to buy shares from Afribank with a fictitious company.

He was alleged to have also transferred N5 million to his personal account at Guaranty Trust Bank (GTB) illegally from the account of the Delta State government, “and which you knew represent the proceeds of crime with the aim of concealing the nature of crime”.

Another charge against him reads: “That you, James Onanefe Ibori on 10 November 2004, transferred N1 million to your personal account at GTB which forms part of the fund from the account of the Delta State government.”

The presiding Judge, Justice Mohammed Lawal Shuaibu, refused to grant him bail based on the submission of the EFCC counsel, Mr. Rotimi Jacobs, that he might jump bail.

Jacobs buttressed his argument with the fact that Ibori had been convicted twice in England for fraud related charges and that he might abscond if granted bail.

Even though Ibori’s counsel, Daudu, pleaded with the court to grant him bail, Justice Shuaibu declined to do so and ordered that he be remanded in EFCC custody until Monday, 17 December, when the court is expected to further consider his application for bail.

Security was tight at the premises of the court as armed anti-riot policemen frisked lawyers and judicial staff moving into the premises.

Despite the tight security, some protesting youths were seen with placards commending the EFCC for a job well done.

The inscriptions on some of the placards read: “ICPC, EFCC, CCB, Well Done’; ‘No Hiding place for corrupt leaders’; ‘With leaders like Ibori, Niger Delta Doesn’t need an enemy’; ‘No To Black Market Rule of Law’, etc.

Ibori was arrested yesterday by officials of EFCC at about 11 a.m. at his Asokoro residence in Abuja and taken to the EFCC office where he is currently being interrogated.

He was said to have escaped to the Kwara State government lodge in Abuja when he discovered the presence of EFCC officials around his house.

His arrest brought to an end the cat and mouse game between him and EFCC officials who have been trying to bring him to book to answer charges bordering on alleged financial impropriety while he was governor of Delta State between May 1999 and May 2007.

The London Metropolitan Police had earlier arrested his wife, Theresa Nkoyo, while she was about to board a Virgin Atlantic flight to Lagos.

The police said her arrest was “in connection with an ongoing money laundering enquiry.”

Ibori has been the subject of money laundering investigation in the UK, where his assets, worth N5 billion, have been frozen.

The investigating team of the Metropolitan Police has made several visits to Nigeria on the matter.

Also under arrest were some of Ibori’s associates, including Adebimpe Pogoson, described as Ibori’s special assistant, who is said to control a number of companies and bank accounts in Nigeria and several other countries; Christine Ibori-Ebie, James Ibori’s sister and Udoamaka Okoronkwo Onuigbo, said to be James Ibori’s banker.

Under probe are companies and properties said to belong to Ibori, such as Haleway Properties Ltd., Gibraltar; the property at 7, Westover Hill in the UK, valued at over 4 million pounds; the property at 42, Great Ground Street, Shaftsbury also in the UK and the company called Telston Quaye Ltd., (British Virgin Island).

Among allegations levelled against him were that he paid $20 million to Bombardier Inc. of Canada, an aircraft manufacturer, for the purpose of buying a plane.

Also being investigated is a London Barclays Bank account in the name of MER Engineering.

About 2.3 million pounds in deposits were traced to the account as payments by Chevron and NNPC.

The saga continues!