News
Drama As London Prosecution Drops
Corruption Charges Against Ibori
After both the London Metropolitan Police and the Economic and
Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) accused James Ibori of
massive corruption and claimed to have a water-tight case
against him, in a dramatic turn, the Crown Prosecution Service
(CPS) has surprisingly dropped the corruption charges against
the former Governor, THEWILL can exclusively report.
Although no official reason was given for this surprising
development, a source with links to the CPS informed THEWILL
that the corruption charges had to be dropped as they would have
been hard to prove and this would have ultimately caused the
British Government untold embarrassment bearing in mind the
considerable amount of time, money and effort so far put into
the case.
James lbori was the Governor of Delta State from 1999 to 2007
and is currently being detained whilst awaiting trial in London.
The allegations against lbori are that during his 8 year tenure
in office, he unlawfully enriched himself by defrauding the oil
rich Delta State.
After leaving office as Delta State Governor, lbori, was
arrested in Nigeria on corruption charges and detained in Kaduna
Prison. lbori eventually faced 170 charges of corruption at the
Federal High Court, Kaduna before the case was transferred to
the Federal High Court, Asaba. The case which attracted much
media and public attention was eventually resolved in Ibori's
favour, after the Judge dismissed all the charges against him,
which elicited mixed reactions from the public. After the
failure to secure a conviction in Nigeria, the EFCC and the
Metropolitan Police Service of London, then decided to try him
again, but this time to change the venue to London, in the hopes
of securing an easier conviction. The challenge was however
getting Ibori to London as he was alleged to have enjoyed the
support of influential Nigerians including a sympathetic
Attorney-General, Michael Aondoakaa SAN.
The next episode of this saga featured the trials in London of
lbori's wife, sister, personal assistant, mistress and lawyer.
The main feature of all of these trials was that lbori had been
a corrupt Governor that had defrauded his state and laundered
the money through the UK with their assistance. After the death
of President Yar' Adua and with the change of guards, renewed
efforts were made to bring lbori to London. Whilst on holiday in
Dubai, he was arrested by Interpol as exclusively reported then
by THEWILL, and detained in Dubai, on behalf of the Metropolitan
Police Service for almost a year.
The extradition proceedings and eventual order of the
Metropolitan Police Service were based on corruption charges.
Following Ibori’s extradition to London on 15th April 2011, a 25
count charge was filed against him. The entire case against him
was based on the allegation that while he was Governor of Delta
State James Ibori was corrupt and that he unjustly enriched
himself. This was maintained through his court appearances in
the Westminster Magistrates Court and the Southwark Crown Court.
Ibori on his part maintained that the entire case was political.
However the first signs of trouble in the prosecution’s case was
detected during pre-trial legal arguments that took place in
December last year when the prosecution amongst other things
sought to remove the corruption charge from the indictment and
in a bizarre twist, Ibori’s own lawyers opposed this application
and insisted that count 1 (the charge bordering on corruption
and the defrauding of Delta State) should remain on the
indictment. The rationale for this appeared to be that the
defence was arguing on behalf of Ibori that at all times, the
allegations of corruption had always been the nucleus of the
prosecution’s case and that the time had now come for the
prosecution to prove the allegations of corruption against Ibori.
THEWILL exclusively gathered Tuesday from reliable court sources
that the prosecution has proposed a new indictment in which the
corruption charge and conspiracy to defraud Delta State will
sensationally be removed from the allegations leveled against
Ibori.
In a way, this can be viewed as a significant victory for Ibori
said a legal analyst, who has followed the trial, arguing that
the prosecution seems to be accepting that they may be unable to
prove this allegation in a court of law. The other charges
remaining in the case bother on money laundering via the misuse
of the British banking system.
One source close to the former governor told THEWILL that
Ibori’s primary concern is his accountability to the people of
Delta State and with the removal of this charge he now feels
fully vindicated as the issue of corruption and embezzlement
whilst in office is no longer in contention.
In the same vein, a source with links to the CPS team said that
the corruption charges had to be removed because it would have
been an uphill task for them to prove it in a court of law and
ultimately cause them great embarrassment if they had lost it
bearing in mind the considerable amount of time, money, energy
and effort they have put into the Ibori case. To date, the
Metropolitan Police officers have made over 25 trips to Nigeria
in furtherance of their investigation into the Ibori matter and
rumoured to have spent in excess of $14million on the case,
making it one of the most expensive investigations and
prosecutions in Britain hence their determination to secure a
conviction.
One can only wonder how James Ibori himself must feel with all
these developments; although the man is not a stranger to
intrigues, as the facts have shown. Indeed there is however
widespread speculation about his next move. Some believe that he
may soon enter into a plea bargain with the CPS while others say
he will fight on to the logical conclusion of the case. Whatever
the case may be, Ibori can at least rest a little easier now
that there is no more allegation of corruption hanging around
his neck!
The trial is slated to begin on February 13, 2012 and we wait to
see how it develops.
THE
WILL
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