13th December, 2010
The Dubai Court of Cassation this morning ordered the extradition of James Onanefe Ibori, former governor of the Nigeria’s Delta state, to the United Kingdom
Mr Ibori, who ruled the oil rich state for eight years, was detained after an Interpol arrest request was filed by the Metropolitan Police in London, asking for his extradition.
In the UK, Ibori will be facing money laundering and fraud charges.
His collaborators, his lawyer and first wife, Nkoyo have already been convicted over the crimes and jailed.
Ibori was declared a wanted man by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, when he escaped from Nigeria to Dubai, after playing some deadly hide and seek with agents of the commission, especially his hometown of Oghara.
The former governor is accused of stealing funds worth $290m (£196m) by the EFCC.
Ibori has for years denied corruption allegations against him in Nigeria and is also wanted by the Metropolitan police in the UK for money laundering charges.
In 2007, a UK court froze assets belonging to him worth £21m, though he already escaped from the UK when his assets were seized.
Ibori was first arrested and arraigned by the EFCC in Nigeria in December 2007.
Two years later, a court in Asaba cleared him of 170 charges of corruption, saying there was no clear evidence to convict him.
On arrival in Dubai, he walked straight into the trap set by the Metroplitan Police in the UK which began a protracted extradition proceedings against him , after his initial arrest in a Dubai hotel on 12 May.
On 17 October, the Dubai court of First Instance ruled that that he should be  extradited to Britain to face the charge of money laundering. But Ibori appealed. Judgement against him was delivered today.
His extradition will trigger off his trial on money laundering and fraud charges. And he has a lot to worry about as almost all his associates and his lawyer have been convicted. The latest was Bhadresh Gohil, his London-based lawyer, who entered a guilty plea at the opening of a new trial involving the theft of V-Mobile shares in Nigeria.It was the second Ibori-related case for Gohil this  year. Three weeks ago, the Southwark Court convicted the lawyer on another  money-laundering charge, in a trial that also involved Ibori’s wife, Theresa Nkoyo  Ibori.
Mrs. Ibori was also convicted on 22 November by a Southwark Crown Court and is currently serving a five-year sentence in a London prison. The court deferred Mr. Gohil’s sentencing until the conclusion of the trial.
In a previous trial, a UK court also jailed Ibori’s sister, Christine Ibori-Ibie, and his mistress, Udoamaka Okoronkwo-Onuigbo, for corruption charges.
A London-based legal expert had said that, in pleading guilty to the fresh eight-count charge, Mr. Gohil may have signalled that he could not wriggle out of the water-tight case that the UK Crown Prosecutor has against him and Ibori.
“Mr. Gohil’s guilty plea is going to make it tougher, if not impossible, for Mr. Ibori to fend off the British government’s request for his extradition from Dubai to  face numerous money laundering charges in London,†the expert had added.
Although the trial was expected to last for three weeks, Mr. Gohil told the court  that he wanted to plead guilty. His motion for a guilty plea was accepted and  recorded.
Mr. Bhadresh Gohil joins the rare company of the few UK lawyers to be convicted for money laundering. Southwark Crown Court judge, Christopher Hardy, who once referred to Gohil as the “predicate offender†alongside Mr. Ibori. Charged with Gohil were  Lambertus De Boer and Daniel McCann. They pleaded not guilty. British prosecutors accused Gohil of participating in the laundering of funds realized from the sale of V-Mobile shares owned by the governments of Delta and Akwa Ibom. Other Nigerian officials accused in the scam are currently at large. They include Mr. Ibori, former Governor Victor Obong Attah of Akwa Ibom, David Edevbie, a former Principal Secretary to Umaru Yar’Adua, Love Ojakovo, a former commissioner of finance to Ibori and Henry Imashekka, a business associate of Ibori.
The accused face 14 counts of forgery and money laundering in relation to the sale  of V-Mobile telecoms shares by Akwa Ibom and Delta States. The accused men reportedly used front companies to defraud the Nigerian states of a total of $37.8  million realized from the sale of the shares.
Prosecutors allege that a company named “Africa Development Finance Company†was the  major conduit used to steal the funds. In an instance cited in the case summary, prosecutors state that an $11 million loan was purportedly granted to an aviation company that assisted Mr. Ibori in purchasing a jet from Canada; $10 million was given to “Ascot Offshore Nigeria Limited,†the company that Ibori used to purchase Wilbros; and another $790,000 was granted to another fake firm “Africa Development Co.†and an offshore nominee firm.
The charges of forgery concern Mr. De Boer and McCann. They are accused of violating  the Forgery and Counterfeiting Act of the UK by creating fake documents between  Delta State and Africa Finance Ltd., and also between Delta and African Development  Company. They are also accused of creating a false account that used both men’s  names as beneficiaries as part of a scheme to hide the fraudulent nature of thetransactions.
During his term and political career, between 1999 and 2007, Mr Ibori was one of the most vocal advocates for resource nationalisation in Nigeria. His critics now believed that he used the campaign as a façade to personally enrich himself with the state resources.
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In the UK, Ibori will be facing money laundering and fraud charges.
His collaborators, his lawyer and first wife, Nkoyo have already been convicted over the crimes and jailed.
Ibori was declared a wanted man by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, when he escaped from Nigeria to Dubai, after playing some deadly hide and seek with agents of the commission, especially his hometown of Oghara.
The former governor is accused of stealing funds worth $290m (£196m) by the EFCC.
Ibori has for years denied corruption allegations against him in Nigeria and is also wanted by the Metropolitan police in the UK for money laundering charges.
In 2007, a UK court froze assets belonging to him worth £21m, though he already escaped from the UK when his assets were seized.
Ibori was first arrested and arraigned by the EFCC in Nigeria in December 2007.
Two years later, a court in Asaba cleared him of 170 charges of corruption, saying there was no clear evidence to convict him.
On arrival in Dubai, he walked straight into the trap set by the Metroplitan Police in the UK which began a protracted extradition proceedings against him , after his initial arrest in a Dubai hotel on 12 May.
On 17 October, the Dubai court of First Instance ruled that that he should be  extradited to Britain to face the charge of money laundering. But Ibori appealed. Judgement against him was delivered today.
His extradition will trigger off his trial on money laundering and fraud charges. And he has a lot to worry about as almost all his associates and his lawyer have been convicted. The latest was Bhadresh Gohil, his London-based lawyer, who entered a guilty plea at the opening of a new trial involving the theft of V-Mobile shares in Nigeria.It was the second Ibori-related case for Gohil this  year. Three weeks ago, the Southwark Court convicted the lawyer on another  money-laundering charge, in a trial that also involved Ibori’s wife, Theresa Nkoyo  Ibori.
Mrs. Ibori was also convicted on 22 November by a Southwark Crown Court and is currently serving a five-year sentence in a London prison. The court deferred Mr. Gohil’s sentencing until the conclusion of the trial.
In a previous trial, a UK court also jailed Ibori’s sister, Christine Ibori-Ibie, and his mistress, Udoamaka Okoronkwo-Onuigbo, for corruption charges.
A London-based legal expert had said that, in pleading guilty to the fresh eight-count charge, Mr. Gohil may have signalled that he could not wriggle out of the water-tight case that the UK Crown Prosecutor has against him and Ibori.
“Mr. Gohil’s guilty plea is going to make it tougher, if not impossible, for Mr. Ibori to fend off the British government’s request for his extradition from Dubai to  face numerous money laundering charges in London,†the expert had added.
Although the trial was expected to last for three weeks, Mr. Gohil told the court  that he wanted to plead guilty. His motion for a guilty plea was accepted and  recorded.
Mr. Bhadresh Gohil joins the rare company of the few UK lawyers to be convicted for money laundering. Southwark Crown Court judge, Christopher Hardy, who once referred to Gohil as the “predicate offender†alongside Mr. Ibori. Charged with Gohil were  Lambertus De Boer and Daniel McCann. They pleaded not guilty. British prosecutors accused Gohil of participating in the laundering of funds realized from the sale of V-Mobile shares owned by the governments of Delta and Akwa Ibom. Other Nigerian officials accused in the scam are currently at large. They include Mr. Ibori, former Governor Victor Obong Attah of Akwa Ibom, David Edevbie, a former Principal Secretary to Umaru Yar’Adua, Love Ojakovo, a former commissioner of finance to Ibori and Henry Imashekka, a business associate of Ibori.
The accused face 14 counts of forgery and money laundering in relation to the sale  of V-Mobile telecoms shares by Akwa Ibom and Delta States. The accused men reportedly used front companies to defraud the Nigerian states of a total of $37.8  million realized from the sale of the shares.
Prosecutors allege that a company named “Africa Development Finance Company†was the  major conduit used to steal the funds. In an instance cited in the case summary, prosecutors state that an $11 million loan was purportedly granted to an aviation company that assisted Mr. Ibori in purchasing a jet from Canada; $10 million was given to “Ascot Offshore Nigeria Limited,†the company that Ibori used to purchase Wilbros; and another $790,000 was granted to another fake firm “Africa Development Co.†and an offshore nominee firm.
The charges of forgery concern Mr. De Boer and McCann. They are accused of violating  the Forgery and Counterfeiting Act of the UK by creating fake documents between  Delta State and Africa Finance Ltd., and also between Delta and African Development  Company. They are also accused of creating a false account that used both men’s  names as beneficiaries as part of a scheme to hide the fraudulent nature of thetransactions.
During his term and political career, between 1999 and 2007, Mr Ibori was one of the most vocal advocates for resource nationalisation in Nigeria. His critics now believed that he used the campaign as a façade to personally enrich himself with the state resources.