IBORI: Released From UK Prison, Re-arrested On Fresh Charge

Chief James Ibori

FORMER governor of Delta State, Chief James Onanefe Ibori who was jailed in April 2012 for thirteen years by Southwark Crown Court in the United Kingdom over charges bothering on money laundering was released by the prison authorities having completed his terms of imprisonments.

However, the former governor’s freedom was cut-short following his re-arrest in the same United Kingdom to face another charge which borders on the confiscation of his ill-gotten assets, estimated to be about 250 million pounds. However, the case which initially was billed for May was postponed to June, according to reliable sources.

It would be recalled that Ibori was accused and subsequently jailed for using some financial institutions in UK to launder millions of Pound Sterling believably belonging to Delta State.
Prior to this development, he faced similar charges in Nigeria but was discharged and acquitted over multi-billion fraud charges levelled against him by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, including the $15 million bribe he allegedly offered the then EFCC chairman, Nuhu Ribadu.

Similarly, in a suit challenging his eligibility to re-contest for the office of the executive governor of Delta State in which he was alleged to have been convicted over crimes by a court of competent jurisdiction thereby ineligible, after the submissions and rejoinders in the court, the court pursuant to the evidences presented before it admitted that a certain ‘James Onanefe Ibori’ was actually convicted’ however held that the plaintiffs failed to prove that the governor was the actual ‘James Onanefe Ibori’ convicted and therefore struck out the case. The governor through his counsel had argued that though he bears similar names, nevertheless, is different from the convicted Ibori.

Following allegations of money laundering against him, a Delta State born-Ibori was on 27 February 2012 docked, accused of stealing US$250 million from the Nigerian government treasury. He pleaded guilty to ten counts of money laundering and conspiracy to defraud. Following this, his possessions confiscated by the court include a house in Hampstead, north London worth £2.2million, a property in Shaftesbury, Dorset worth £311,000, A £3.2m mansion in Sandton, near Johannesburg South Africa , a fleet of armoured Range Rovers valued at £600,000,a £120,000 Bentley Continental GT, A Mercedes-Benz Maybach bought for €407,000.

Also jailed with him apart from his sister and mistress were his wife, Theresa Nkoyo Ibori, his Indian lawyer, Bhadresh Gohil and his financial advisors, Daniel McCann and Lambertus De Boer.