UK court to restart $145m Ibori asset- confiscation case

Hearing in the case of confiscation of 90
million pounds (about 145 million dollars)
worth of assets belonging to ex-gov. James
Ibori ended inconclusively on Monday in a
British court.
The case will now start afresh next year.
James Ibori, governor of the oil-producing
state of Delta in southern Nigeria from 1999
to 2007, is serving a 13-year jail sentence in
a British jail.
This was after he pleaded guilty in February
2012 to 10 counts of fraud and money-
laundering.
Once an influential power-broker at the
heart of Nigeria’s ruling PDP, he is by far
the most senior politician to be held
accountable for the corruption.
The confiscation proceedings against him
will 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 will become eligible for early release
in March 2016.
In a hearing which began at London’s
Southwark Crown Court on Sept. 16,
prosecutors were seeking a court order to
confiscate a long list of assets.
They were relying on Ibori’s guilty pleas as
proof that his assets worth close to 90
million pounds were the proceeds of
corruption during his time in office.
The defence argued that the guilty pleas
did not prove that the assets were benefits
of Ibori’s crimes.
After three weeks in court, Judge
Anthony Pitts said in order to make
an informed ruling he needed a better grip
on the evidence underlying the case.
He said the hearing should start again from
scratch next year, at a date to be
determined later.
At the new hearing, which could last
months, the prosecution will present
evidence it had prepared for Ibori’s trial,
which was scheduled to start in February
2012.
The trial then never took place because
Ibori entered his guilty pleas on the first
morning.
One of the most contentious issues to
emerge during the confiscation hearing
was an allegation by the prosecution that
Ibori may have hidden assets in Oando,
Nigeria’s biggest home-grown energy firm.
This had caused Oando’s share price to fall
by 20 per cent in two days.
Oando disputed the allegation in
statements and via Andrew Baillie, a lawyer
representing its interests in court.
Baillie told the judge on Monday that there
was “no evidence of any connection
between Ibori and Oando Plc’’.
He asked him to make a formal finding to
that effect when the case finally concludes,
even though Pitts gave no indication of
whether he would make any such finding.
The prosecution has however maintained
the allegation.(Reuters/NAN)