Convicted former Delta State Governor,
Chief James Ibori, hid some of his assets
in an indigenous integrated oil company,
Oando Plc, according to a British
prosecutor.
The prosecutor was quoted by Reuters in
a report on Monday as saying that the
former governor, who is serving a 13-year
jail term in the United Kingdom for fraud
and money-laundering, hid some of his
assets in the oil firm; adding that money
passed from Oando’s accounts into
Ibori’s Swiss accounts.
Ibori had in February 2012 pleaded guilty
to 10 counts of fraud and money-
laundering worth £50m.
Prosecutor Sasha Wass was quoted as
telling the court that she would be
presenting evidence that Ibori had
“asserted ownership of a large part” of
Oando, Nigeria’s biggest home-grown oil
firm, which is listed in Lagos,
Johannesburg and Toronto.
“The Crown will assert that Oando is a
company where James Ibori has hidden
assets,” Wass said, giving no further
details.
One of the biggest embezzlement cases
seen in Britain, the successful prosecution
of Ibori was also a rare example of a
senior Nigerian politician being held to
account for the corruption that blights
Africa’s most populous country.
At the time of Ibori’s sentencing in April
2012, Judge Anthony Pitts said the £50m
that he had admitted to stealing might be
a “ludicrously low” fraction of his total
booty, which could be more than £200m.
The confiscation hearing will shed
further light on the scale of Ibori’s wealth
and determine whether he emerges from
jail impoverished or still in possession of
a large enough fortune to regain a
position of influence in Nigeria.
Ibori could be released as early as 2016
because he spent two years in custody
before his sentencing and because he will
be eligible for parole halfway through his
prison term.
He was not in court on Monday and his
lawyer, Ivan Krolick, said Ibori did not
wish to attend the confiscation hearing
although he would come to court to give
evidence if necessary.
In May, the Court of Appeal had rejected
Ibori’s appeal against the length of his
sentence.
During his sentencing hearing, the court
heard that Ibori had acquired six foreign
properties worth £6.9m, a fleet of luxury
cars including a Bentley and a Maybach
62, and that he had tried to buy a $20m
private jet. His three daughters were
attending a private school in rural
England.
However, the Head, Corporate
Communications, Oando Plc, Mr. Ainojie
Irune, who spoke with our correspondent
in Lagos, denied the report that the jailed
ex-governor owned a larger part of the oil
company.
He said, “We state categorically that Mr.
James Ibori does not own ‘a large part of
Oando’ and that this statement is
incorrect and misleading. Oando is a
publicly traded company listed on the
Nigerian and Johannesburg Stock
Exchanges and does not and cannot
control the trading in its securities on the
floor of the respective Exchanges.
“Based on our current shareholding
register, Mr. James Ibori’s shareholding
stands at 443 shares out of a total issued
and paid up share capital of 6.8 billion
ordinary shares, which is clearly
insignificant, and cannot be considered
as ‘a large part of Oando.’
“Oando also stated that it does accept
that sometime in 2004, in the normal
course of its business, it sold some of its
foreign exchange earnings for naira and
the recipient of the US dollars was a
company, which has now turned out to
be one controlled by James Ibori.
“At the time of the transaction, this
information was unknown to Oando. The
total amount was $2.7m made in three
separate transactions over a period of
about seven months. This amount was
insignificant considering the company’s
turnover of approximately $800m in
2004.”
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