Former Delta State Governor, James Ibori’s attempt to relaunch his political career is at risk as a London court has threatened a fresh 10-year jail term over money he’s expected to pay up.
A state prosecutor on Thursday had requested a London court to order confiscation of $129 million from the Nigerian politician, according to Reuters.
Ibori who once straddled the Nigerian political space like a colossus is facing renewed threat of prison sentence following his conviction of fraud in the UK.
He was convicted and served sentence after being extradited to the UK in 2011 from Dubai, where he had been hiding after escaping the Nigerian anti-graft agencies.
He was charged with laundering a “corruptly acquired fortune” and pleaded guilty in 2012 to 10 counts of fraud and money laundering.
He was sentenced to 13 years in jail in a British rare case of convicting foreign politicians who looted their countries’ wealth.
Ibori’s case was particularly novel being that despite many years of accusation that Nigerian politicians loot their country’s wealth and stash them abroad, none had been convicted.
His case was hailed as an outlier.
But the question of what should actually be returned by Ibori, who was twice governor of oil-rich Delta, has been a constant focus in court despite serving his sentence.
But new evidence provided by Judge David Tomlinson of Southwark Crown Court appears to be bringing the case to a close.
On Thursday, after an argument about the computation of one of the biggest loot by a politician from Nigeria, the judge is expected to issue the final order on Friday or shortly afterward.
Shame on Gen Buba Marwa. The Nigerian military must expunge the names of folks like him from their register. An institution as highly professional as the military must not not keep the name of one of them who’s a friend of a narco trader, in their register.