James Onafefe Ibori, 49, pleaded guilty to fraud and money laundering for his trial at London’s Southwark crown court. Prosecutor Sasha Wass told the court Ibori had accepted he was involved in “wide-scale theft, fraud and corruption when he was governor of Delta state”.
Ibori laundered much of the funds in London through a number of offshore companies. The scale of the fraud which is still being investigated is reported to have totalling more than £50m, it is believed the final amount could exceed £157m.
As governor of the Delta State region he presided over the massive environmental devastation, armed conflict and corruption committed by the ‘blood oil’ industry giant, Shell.
Ibori was one of Nigeria's wealthiest politicians, yet even before that he had amassed a reputation for theft.
In 1991, he and his wife were convicted of stealing from a branch of the DIY store Wickes, London, when working there as a cashier.
In 1992 he was found guilty for being in possession of a stolen credit card and fraudulently spending around £1000 on it.
However his dissent into criminality was accelerated when he became state governor in 1999. Soon afterwards he purchased several properties in the UK including a £2.2 million house in Hampstead which he paid for in cash. His children were placed in expensive British private schools and in April 2006 he stole $37m which was laundered through his solicitor Bhadresh Gohil a partner at Arlington Sharma Solicitors, who has since been jailed for seven years.
It was Gohil who created the simple scheme to set up a fake company as a consultancy called ADF (Africa Development Finance) and charge exorbitant fees ($37m) for their alleged service and to arrange the sale of Delta state's share in mobile phone company V-Mobile to neighbouring Akwa Ibom state.
Ibori was initially arrested in Nigeria during 2007 by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission in 2007 but Nigerian state governors have immunity from criminal prosecution while in office. Subsequently, the 170 charges which were heard in Ibori’s hometown of Asaba were all dismissed.
Justice eventually caught up with him when the case was reopened in 2010 by Nigerian investigators. Ibori ran from Nigeria and escaped arrest but was caught in Dubai on a British warrant whilst trying to purchase a plane for £20m.
Ibori, in a statement signed by his media assistant, Mr Tony Eluemunor is now denying reports that he plead guilty to corruption charges as propaganda. It claims that Ibori was engaged in ‘plea bargaining’ because “[he] did not want a long drawn trial where Nigeria’s name would be bandied about in a foreign court.”
There is no formal ‘plea bargaining’ mechanism in the British legal system.
Ibori will be sentenced at Southwark crown court on 16 and 17 April.
Some of the Assets
==================
- 7 Westover Hill, Hampstead, London properties. Bought in 2001 for £2.2 million in cash.
- 42 Great Ground, Shaftesbury, Dorset in the West Country Bought in 2005 for £311,000
- Abbey Road, London properties
- Abuja Mansion
- Mayflower Lodge, London properties
- Kingfisher Way, London properties
- Luxury house in Lagos
- Woodhill Crescent, Kenton, London properties
- Uphill Drive, London properties
- Bentley
- Range Rover
Toyin Agbetu from the Ligali Organisation said;
“This is a positive development but there is still more work to be done. This scale of corruption not only harms, by impoverishing the people whose money it is being stolen, but also undermines those seeking to reform these corrupt democratic systems of governance inherited from Britain.
Until all those involved in this reprehensible practice are brought to trial, criminals will continue to serve in governments masquerading as honourable people”
In February 2010 the Ligali Organisation contacted both the Serious Fraud Office and the Officers of Standards in Public Life asking they also looked into the affairs of Tony Baldry.
Baldry, who is the Conservative MP for Banbury, received payment of £22,012.57 from another of Ibori’s solicitors, this time Zaiwalla & Co for less than a day’s work. He also sought to intervene and block investigations into the criminal activities of the convicted fraudster.
In March 2010, libel lawyers Olswang acted on behalf of the parliamentarian to silence critics calling for justice. This has led to the removal of online articles from The Independent newspaper amongst others.
Showing little interest in the Baldry matter, Matthew Dowding from the Officers of Standards in Public Life referred Ligali to the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards who in turn failed to provide adequate assistance to investigate the matter.
It is widely believed that Baldry abused his office in an attempt to subvert the course of justice when he wrote to the foreign secretary in an attempt to grant immunity from prosecution to Ibori and his family.
Baldry is also amongst the collection of British MPs forced to repay money fraudulently claimed during the expenses scandal. He claimed more than £12,000 in mortgage interest payments as part of his Parliamentary expenses.
In 2005 Val Collier, Sierra Leone’s anti-corruption commissioner, criticised Baldry as “immoral” for using his position as an MP to promote his own business interests whilst Chair of Parliamentary report “Darfur, Sudan”.
External Links
James Ibori pleads guilty to fraud and money-laundering chargesIbori - The Thief In Government House And His LootV-Mobile $37Million Shares Fraud-Bhadresh Gohil, Ibori’s UK Lawyer Sentenced To 7 Years In PrisonEx-gov Ibori pleads guilty to looting of delta stateAfrican Corruption: Tony Baldry MP Unleashes the Libel Lawyers
Ibori’s Lawyer, Tony Baldry starts to feel the HeatBritish Tory MP implicated in African corruption scandal
Ibori laundered much of the funds in London through a number of offshore companies. The scale of the fraud which is still being investigated is reported to have totalling more than £50m, it is believed the final amount could exceed £157m.
As governor of the Delta State region he presided over the massive environmental devastation, armed conflict and corruption committed by the ‘blood oil’ industry giant, Shell.
Ibori was one of Nigeria's wealthiest politicians, yet even before that he had amassed a reputation for theft.
In 1991, he and his wife were convicted of stealing from a branch of the DIY store Wickes, London, when working there as a cashier.
In 1992 he was found guilty for being in possession of a stolen credit card and fraudulently spending around £1000 on it.
However his dissent into criminality was accelerated when he became state governor in 1999. Soon afterwards he purchased several properties in the UK including a £2.2 million house in Hampstead which he paid for in cash. His children were placed in expensive British private schools and in April 2006 he stole $37m which was laundered through his solicitor Bhadresh Gohil a partner at Arlington Sharma Solicitors, who has since been jailed for seven years.
It was Gohil who created the simple scheme to set up a fake company as a consultancy called ADF (Africa Development Finance) and charge exorbitant fees ($37m) for their alleged service and to arrange the sale of Delta state's share in mobile phone company V-Mobile to neighbouring Akwa Ibom state.
Ibori was initially arrested in Nigeria during 2007 by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission in 2007 but Nigerian state governors have immunity from criminal prosecution while in office. Subsequently, the 170 charges which were heard in Ibori’s hometown of Asaba were all dismissed.
Justice eventually caught up with him when the case was reopened in 2010 by Nigerian investigators. Ibori ran from Nigeria and escaped arrest but was caught in Dubai on a British warrant whilst trying to purchase a plane for £20m.
Ibori, in a statement signed by his media assistant, Mr Tony Eluemunor is now denying reports that he plead guilty to corruption charges as propaganda. It claims that Ibori was engaged in ‘plea bargaining’ because “[he] did not want a long drawn trial where Nigeria’s name would be bandied about in a foreign court.”
There is no formal ‘plea bargaining’ mechanism in the British legal system.
Ibori will be sentenced at Southwark crown court on 16 and 17 April.
Some of the Assets
==================
- 7 Westover Hill, Hampstead, London properties. Bought in 2001 for £2.2 million in cash.
- 42 Great Ground, Shaftesbury, Dorset in the West Country Bought in 2005 for £311,000
- Abbey Road, London properties
- Abuja Mansion
- Mayflower Lodge, London properties
- Kingfisher Way, London properties
- Luxury house in Lagos
- Woodhill Crescent, Kenton, London properties
- Uphill Drive, London properties
- Bentley
- Range Rover
Pleaded Guilty: James Onafefe Ibori
Still more work to be done
Toyin Agbetu from the Ligali Organisation said; “This is a positive development but there is still more work to be done. This scale of corruption not only harms, by impoverishing the people whose money it is being stolen, but also undermines those seeking to reform these corrupt democratic systems of governance inherited from Britain.
Until all those involved in this reprehensible practice are brought to trial, criminals will continue to serve in governments masquerading as honourable people”
In February 2010 the Ligali Organisation contacted both the Serious Fraud Office and the Officers of Standards in Public Life asking they also looked into the affairs of Tony Baldry.
Baldry, who is the Conservative MP for Banbury, received payment of £22,012.57 from another of Ibori’s solicitors, this time Zaiwalla & Co for less than a day’s work. He also sought to intervene and block investigations into the criminal activities of the convicted fraudster.
In March 2010, libel lawyers Olswang acted on behalf of the parliamentarian to silence critics calling for justice. This has led to the removal of online articles from The Independent newspaper amongst others.
Showing little interest in the Baldry matter, Matthew Dowding from the Officers of Standards in Public Life referred Ligali to the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards who in turn failed to provide adequate assistance to investigate the matter.
It is widely believed that Baldry abused his office in an attempt to subvert the course of justice when he wrote to the foreign secretary in an attempt to grant immunity from prosecution to Ibori and his family.
Baldry is also amongst the collection of British MPs forced to repay money fraudulently claimed during the expenses scandal. He claimed more than £12,000 in mortgage interest payments as part of his Parliamentary expenses.
In 2005 Val Collier, Sierra Leone’s anti-corruption commissioner, criticised Baldry as “immoral” for using his position as an MP to promote his own business interests whilst Chair of Parliamentary report “Darfur, Sudan”.
Exploiting Africans: Tony Baldry
External Links
James Ibori pleads guilty to fraud and money-laundering chargesIbori - The Thief In Government House And His LootV-Mobile $37Million Shares Fraud-Bhadresh Gohil, Ibori’s UK Lawyer Sentenced To 7 Years In PrisonEx-gov Ibori pleads guilty to looting of delta stateAfrican Corruption: Tony Baldry MP Unleashes the Libel Lawyers
Ligali is not responsible for the content of third party sites
Ibori’s Lawyer, Tony Baldry starts to feel the HeatBritish Tory MP implicated in African corruption scandal
Speak Out!
Click here to speak out or read (4) comments about this articleThis is a positive development but there is still more work to be done but until all those involved in this reprehensible practice are brought to trial, criminals will continue to serve in governments masquerading as honourable people
Toyin Agbetu, The Ligali Organisation
See Related:
Get involved and help change our world