7/24/2019 James Ibori Released From UK Prison OsunDefenderOsunDefender

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James Ibori Released From UK Prison

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Former governor of Delta State, James Onanefe Ibori has completed his prison terms in the United

Kingdom. But he is yet to be a free man, as he was immediately re-arrested.

TheNEWS learnt that Ibori jailed 13 years in April 2012 by a Southwark Crown court in London was

released by prison authorities on 22 January.

He was released from Her Majestys Prison in Bedford, outside of London, where he finished his

prison term. He was also initially at the Long Lartin Prison in Worcestershire.

He is out of here, a prison source at Bedford confirmed on Tuesday night.

Our sources said Ibori was re-arrested to face another charge, which borders on the confiscation of

his ill-gotten assets, estimated to be about 250 million pounds. The case initially billed for May, willnow come up in June, sources told us this afternoon.

We cannot however confirm Iboris new prison.

Fifty-seven year old Ibori was jailed for using UK

financial institutions to launder hundreds of

millions of pound sterling he stole from public

funds in Delta State.

His journey to jail began with his arrest On 13

May 2010 in Dubai, United Arab Emirates under

Interpol arrest warrants, issued from United

Kingdom courts and enacted by the Metropolitan

Police.

He had earlier made a mockery of Nigerias legal system, walking away free from the multi-billion

fraud charge levelled against him by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, including the

$15 million bribe he offered the then EFCC chairman, Nuhu Ribadu.

Iboris case and extradition became one of the longest, most complex and expensive operations

mounted by Scotland Yard in recent years.

Prosecutors alleged that companies owned by Ibori and his family were beneficiaries from the sale of

state assets, including shares in Econet, a GSM telephone operator, as well as crude oil deliveries.

7/24/2019 James Ibori Released From UK Prison OsunDefenderOsunDefender

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Before his conviction, UK juries two years earlier found

James Iboris sister, Christine Ibie-Ibori and his mistress,

Udoamaka Okoronkwo, guilty on counts of money

laundering, in a verdict delivered at the Southwark

Crown Court, London.

On 27 February 2012, Ibori himself was docked, accused

of stealing US$250 million from the Nigerian public

purse. He pleaded guilty to ten counts of money

laundering and conspiracy to defraud. Among

possessions confiscated were a house in Hampstead, north London, for 2.2million, a property in

Shaftesbury, Dorset for 311,000, A 3.2m mansion in Sandton, near Johannesburg South Africa , a

fleet of armoured Range Rovers valued at 600,000,a 120,000 Bentley Continental GT, A Mercedes-

Benz Maybach bought for 407,000 cash, that was shipped direct to his mansion in South Africa

After the sentencing hearing, Sue Patten, head of the Crown Prosecution Service central fraud

group, said it would bid to confiscate the assets Ibori had acquired his riches at the expense of the

some of the poorest people in the world.

Also jailed with him apart from his sister and mistress were his wife, Theresa Nkoyo Ibori, his

lawyer, Bhadresh Gohil and his financial advisors, Daniel McCann and Lambertus De Boer.

While in prison, Ibori continued to exercise a lot of influence on the politics of his Delta state, with

the present governor, Ifeanyi Okowa, regarded as one of his disciples.

Dr Emmanuel Uduaghan, two term governor of the state, who succeeded him in 2007 is his uncle.

Born in Oghara, 57 years ago, the young James Onanefe Ibori was educated at Baptist High school,

now Oghareki Grammar School. From there, he went to the University of Benin, where he studied

economics and statistics. After his university education, he moved to the United Kingdom, where he

worked at Wickes DIY, married his wife, Theresa and tainted his record with two convictions for

theft and credit card fraud, that were to later haunt his political career in Nigeria.

He became governor of Delta state in 1999 and held forte for eight years.

TheNews