Nigeria Tam Tam: Ibori shocked the United Kingdom (UK) court....

Ibori pleads guilty in London 

• Conviction is  April 16
• Britain to return seized assets to Delta

AT the home-front, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) met a brickwall in its attempt to prosecute former Delta State Governor James Onanefe Ibori over alleged financial misconduct while in office.




When the heat was on him, Ibori went underground for weeks in 2010 before he escaped to Dubai, which turned out to be an ill-fated journey.

He was extradited to London on the request of British government for trial over money-laundering and other offences.

Against earlier reports that Ibori might enter into a plea bargain, the former governor yesterday pleaded guilty before a United Kingdom (UK) court to a 10-count charge of money-laundering and conspiracy to defraud his state.

His admission of guilt promptly set the stage for his sentencing, which the court has fixed for April 16 and 17, 2012.

British police had accused him of stealing $250 million (about N38.75 billion at the exchange rate of $1 to N155) over eight years that he was governor.

The prosecutor also called him a “thief in government house.”

Ibori, both under the administration of former President Olusegun Obasanjo and his late successor, Umaru Musa Yar’Adua, was seen within the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) as a power broker. He was arrested in 2010 in Dubai and then extradited to London.

According to agency reports, Ibori shocked the court yesterday when as his trial at London’s Southwark Crown Court was about to begin, changed his plea to guilty and admitted stealing money from Delta State and laundering it in London through some offshore companies.

Prosecuting Queens Counsel (QC) Sasha Wass said Ibori, 53, had “tricked” his way into becoming a governor between 1999 and 2007, by giving a false date of birth and claiming he had no criminal record.

“He was never the legitimate governor and there was effectively a thief in government house. As the pretender of that public office, he was able to plunder Delta State’s wealth and hand out patronage.”

Before yesterday,  Ibori’s wife, Theresa, his sister, Christine Ibie, his mistress, Udoamaaka Okoronkwo, and his London solicitor, Bhadresh Gohil, had all been convicted of money-laundering and sentenced to five-year jail terms each....Read More...