• Today is judgement day
IF a crowd of supporters of erstwhile Delta State Governor James Ibori thought they could disrupt the course of justice in a United Kingdom (UK) court, they were sorely disappointed.
The rancorous crowd was sent out of the court that announced tomorrow as the day the former governor will be sentenced.
Ibori is being tried in Southwark Crown Court in London for embezzling public funds while he was a governor of Delta State.
During the sentencing phase of Ibori, which began yesterday, the prosecution gave details of Ibori’s expertise as a criminal embezzler.
At yesterday’s session, which was a prelude to the former governor’s formal sentencing today – the prosecution laid bare the methods Ibori used to loot the treasury of Delta State.
According to lead prosecutor Sasha Wass, Ibori “lived and behaved like a millionaire.” She detailed how the former governor started off as a petty thief who dipped hands in the till of his employers. She told the court that the man who was once unable to afford his monthly mortgage payments “went on to live the lifestyle of a property tycoon, living like royalty.”
In February, Ibori pleaded guilty to several counts of money laundering and fraud. The prosecution said yesterday that this admission established that the whole case against Ibori was solid and proven, pointing to the greed with which the convict enriched himself by stealing from the people of Delta.
Wass said that Ibori had always planned to defraud Delta State during his time as governor, and had made preparations for it in the years before taking office. Ibori had acquired a new passport with a new date of birth in order to disguise two previous convictions for theft and fraud in the UK. She disclosed that he soon bought a house, the first in a property portfolio that by the time he stepped down as governor was valued at nearly £7 million.
This portfolio consisted of three houses in the UK: two in London and one in Dorset near the expensive private school where his three children were enrolled. In addition, the former governor purchased real estate in South Africa and Houston, Texas. Judge Anthony Pitts was shown a picture from an estate agent’s brochure of the South African mansion Ibori bought for £3 million.
“It says on the details, it’s ‘simply sensational.’ I’m inclined to agree with them,” Judge Pitts said.
The court also heard how by 2007, Ibori had spent £170,000 on motorcars, school fees of £143,000, and £920,000 on an American Express “centurion” card, the credit card for the incredibly wealthy. The court also heard how Ibori bought a £120,000 Mercedes Maybach, “the German equivalent of a Rolls Royce” for his South African mansion. The judge also heard that Ibori was in the process of buying a £20 million challenger jet while being investigated by the UK police.
In addition, the prosecution outlined how Ibori’s relatives and his mistress aided him in siphoning off money from the Delta State treasury into accounts in their names, and then into buying property in the UK, South Africa and the U.S. Wass detailed the former governor’s clever ploy of using different solicitors to buy several property, using a different one each time in order to disguise his involvement and throw off suspicions of money laundering.
The court heard that former Governor Victor Attah of Akwa Ibom State finally introduced Ibori to Badrash Gohil, a lawyer who “specialised in money laundering,” according to Wass. She added that Gohil helped the former governor of Delta State to set up Swiss bank accounts and trusts in the tax havens of the Seychelles as well as the Channel islands in order to hide his thieving.
The UK prosecutor revealed details of huge deposits that the former governor held in a variety of bank accounts that were never disclosed on official asset declarations in Nigeria as required by the Nigerian constitution. Among the deposits were €20 million in a trust fund called Zircon in the Channel island of Guernsey, and £1 million in another trust called Onyx. In addition, Ibori had six accounts with Barclays Bank in London with more than £1million in total. He also had an account in Colorado in the U.S. as well as the use of Gohil’s client account.
According to the prosecutor, when the UK police searched Gohil’s office, they found a secret compartment behind a fireplace that held two external hard drives and information that was “very incriminating.” Gohil, who was convicted last year and sentenced to 10 years in jail, had played a key role in what the police dubbed “the V-Mobile fraud.” The prosecutor is expected to outline the details of that fraud before the court this afternoon.
Wass will continue to address the court about Ibori’s extensive criminal activities and abuse of office.
Earlier, police were called to the court. Three police vans, five cars and a helicopter were deployed to the court after reports of a disturbance inside, according to the Agence France Presse (AFP).
Witnesses said supporters of Ibori became loud and aggressive when they were excluded from the packed courtroom.
“We were there to provide assistance because it was oversubscribed — there were just too many people to get in,” a police spokeswoman told AFP, adding that order had been quickly restored.
A court spokesman confirmed there had been overcrowding and that the start of the hearing had been delayed.
Ibori has faced corruption charges in Nigeria and in Britain, where he was pursued by a police unit, which investigates the activities of foreign officials who seek to launder stolen assets in Britain.
Scotland Yard says that during his two terms as governor, Ibori “systematically stole funds from the public purse, secreting them in bank accounts across the world”, in a fraud worth $250 million.
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