Ex Nigerian Governor James Ibori who defrauded the country of millions may pay back £117m of stolen funds
Former Delta State governor-James Ibori who stole millions of Nigeria’s money and was sentenced to prison in 2012 is out, but his troubles have not ended–as he may have to pay back about £117 million of stolen funds.
In December 2016, Ibori was released from jail and he is now living in Nigeria.
During the peak of James Ibori’s fraud, he spent over £12.6 million on a private jet and spend several thousands of cash on luxury homes.
He is reported to have owned “a £600,000 fleet of armoured Range Rovers, a £120,000 Bentley, and a £340,000 Mercedes Maybach that was shipped direct to his £3.2m mansion in Johannesburg.”
Ibori, whose wife Theresa, mistress Onuigbo and sister Christine Ibori-Idie were all jailed for five years each in 2012 for money laundering offences is currently facing confiscation court proceedings in the UK–aimed at clawing back some of the stolen cash.
At the hearing which started yesterday under the Proceeds of Crime Act at Southwark Crown Court in London, Jonathan Kinnear, QC, prosecuting, said: “Mr Ibori, back in 1999 cheated his way into the position of governor of the Delta State, he did that firstly by failing to declare criminal convictions that he had in the UK which would have disqualified him from being governor of the state and secondly to that he lied about his date of birth in order to prevent any checks revealing those convictions. Once he became governor.”
‘He remained governor for two terms, over a period of eight years between 1999 and 2007, during that time he abused his position of trust by systematically looting Delta State funds for his own benefit. Mr Ibori through his lawyers accepted the prosecution case in entirety, no aspects were disputed,” he added.
Comments
Post a Comment