James Ibori
James Ibori (born August 4, 1959 ) is a former Nigerian politician and was at times one of the richest men in Nigeria. He was governor of the state of Delta from May 29, 1999 to May 29, 2007 . In April 2012 he was sentenced to 13 years in prison in London for embezzlement , fraud and money laundering .
Life
Early years in England
Ibori moved from Nigeria to England in the 1980s, where he met his wife Theresa and worked as a cashier in a hardware store in London. In 1991, Ibori and his wife were sentenced to £ 300 for a theft they committed at their workplace . In 1992, Ibori used a stolen credit card and was fined £ 100.
Politician in Nigeria
In 1993 he returned to Nigeria and served the new military dictator Sani Abacha , with whom he held an undefined position.
After Abacha's death, Ibori turned to the politician Atiku Abubakar in 1998 . In 1999 Ibori took out a loan on a house in London. In order to hide his criminal record, he presented a new passport with a wrong date of birth. He also used the wrong date of birth to hide his criminal past when he ran for the 1999 election of Delta state governor.
Protected by immunity after his election to law enforcement as governor of Delta State , Ibori began to enrich himself personally. Making less than $ 25,000 a year, he still bought two houses in the London boroughs of Hampstead and Regent's Park , an apartment in St. John's Wood , a house in Dorset , a property in Johannesburg , a house in Houston and several Houses in Nigeria for several million. He sent his three daughters to Port Regis Private School in Dorset and bought a fleet of expensive automobiles.
After his tenure ended, Ibori was investigated on corruption charges, but 170 corruption charges were dropped in December 2009 by an Asaba court for lack of evidence.
In 2010 President Jonathan put the investigative authorities back on Ibori. An arrest warrant was issued on April 20, but the arrest failed because supporters blocked the road to his hometown of Oghara and the police attacked. Ibori then fled to Dubai , where he was arrested and extradited to the United Kingdom.
Investigation and conviction in England
After a request for support from the Nigerian authorities, the Metropolitan Police Service had investigated Ibori. When the police searched the premises of his London lawyer Gohil, the police found hard drives containing data on numerous bogus companies in tax havens like Guernsey that Gohil had used to move funds for Ibori. Ibori had sold the shares of the state Delta in the telecommunications company V-Mobile and stole the proceeds of 37 million US dollars and had them laundered by Gohil.
Gohil, Ibori's wife Theresa, his sister and his lover were convicted of money laundering.
The court found that Ibori and his accomplices had allegedly stolen more than $ 250 million from the Nigerian state, but sentenced him to 13 years imprisonment in London in April 2012 after confessing that he had embezzled around £ 50 million.
Iboris' attempt to return assets to the Nigerian state was classified as largely unsuccessful in May 2016. Through his lawyers, Ibori had successfully challenged the evidence brought against him from Nigeria, so that according to a press report, only about 10% of his assets could be stolen from him by British authorities.
release
After serving four years of his thirteen-year prison sentence, Ibori was released in December 2016 but was not allowed to leave the kingdom and had to report to the police regularly.
Ibori was detained for 42 more hours after his release because of his residency status. Ibori sued for £ 4,000 in compensation for that time, and was awarded £ 1. He left the UK in February 2017.
Legislative initiative 2016
In 2015, Prime Minister David Cameron announced an initiative to uncover money laundering in the UK and make it more difficult. He cited the Ibori case as an example. The non-governmental organizations Transparency International and Global Witness had documented, among other things, the cases of the sons of the former heads of state Bakiyev and Gaddafi who had acquired luxury properties through bogus companies. Around 36,000 properties in the city of London are said to be owned by companies that reside in tax havens. According to an announcement made in May 2016, the police will in future be able to use "unexplained wealth orders" to request a certificate of origin for funds that have been used for the purchase of land if it is doubtful how the buyer raised the money.
Individual evidence
- ^ A b c d Gordon Rayner: "Former Wickes cashier James Ibori stole £ 50m to live 'like royalty' after winning election in Nigeria, court told" Telegraph of April 16, 2012
- ↑ a b Andrew Walker: "James Ibori: How a thief almost became Nigeria's president" BBC.com of February 28, 2012
- ↑ a b c "Nigeria ex-Delta state governor James Ibori guilty plea" bbc dated February 27, 2012
- ^ A b "Supporters of Nigeria ex-governor Ibori attack police" bbc.co.uk of April 21, 2010
- ↑ a b c d Simon Tomlinson: "Former Wickes cashier who became governor of oil-rich Nigerian state jailed for 13 years as judge says £ 50m fraud figure may be 'ludicrously low'" Daily Mail of April 18, 2012
- ↑ Colin Freeman: "Investigation: inside the global hunt for Nigeria's missing oil billions" Telegraph of May 12, 2016
- ↑ Samuel Ogundipe: "James Ibori released from London Prison - Reports" Premium Times on December 21, 2016
- ^ Mark Easton: "James Ibori: Nigerian ex-governor challenges UK conviction" BBC of February 1, 2017
- ↑ "Convicted Nigerian fraudster James Ibori wins £ 1 from UK" BBC on May 23, 2017
- ↑ Cynthia O'Murchu, "London's money-laundering 'enablers' face crackdown" Financial Times, August 7, 2015
- ^ Colin Freeman: "Corrupt foreigners who launder money through luxury London homes face crackdown" Telegraph of May 11, 2016
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Ibori, James |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Nigerian politician |
| DATE OF BIRTH | 4th August 1959 |