Thursday, June 3, 2010

Dubai set to extradite Ibori

 



Authorities in Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE) yesterday said they were ready to extradite former governor of Delta State, James Ibori, after a British court convicted two of his associates for laundering $20 million on behalf of Ibori.


Daily Champion gathered that the Dubai Police had already written to its United Kingdom (UK) counterpart, asking it to make available relevant documents in the Ibori case.


Ibori's sister, Christine Ibori-Ibie, and an associate, Udoamaka Onuigbo Okoronkwo were each convicted by a jury on three counts of money-laundering at Southwark Crown Court in London on Tuesday, a court official said yesterday.


The indictment named Ibori as the source and beneficiary of the cash.


The case complicates affairs for the former governor who was arrested last month in Dubai on an Interpol warrant.


"The defendants laundered more than 14 million pounds for James Ibori ... They were deeply involved in his life and financial dealings," said David Williams, reviewing lawyer for the British Crown Prosecution Service's central fraud group.


"This was not a victimless crime. The theft of this money meant Nigerian citizens were effectively robbed of the services they were rightly entitled to expect and their lives left poorer as a consequence," he said in a statement.




The offences took place from 1999 to 2007, the period when Ibori was governor of Delta, one of three major oil-producing states in the impoverished Niger Delta.


The jury also found Ibori-Ibie guilty of five charges of obtaining or attempting to obtain property transfers by deceit.


The indictment said she had dishonestly obtained mortgages to buy properties in and around London, presenting herself on different occasions as oil and gas executive, import-export agent, interior decorator and children's wear merchant.


It will be recalled that authorities in Dubai said on May 13 that Ibori had been released from custody, but his passport had been seized. Police said they were expecting his case file to be sent from London.


Britain's Crown Prosecution Service said it would "continue to pursue those involved in Ibori's criminal conduct", starting with another trial of three of his associates scheduled to begin on June 14. One of the defendants in that trial will be Theresa Ibori, the politician's wife.


A successful prosecution of Ibori at home or abroad, would be seen as a huge victory in the fight against corruption by President Goodluck Jonathan.


A British court froze $35 million of Ibori's assets in August 2007 on suspicion they were the proceeds of corruption.


The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) tried to arrest Ibori last month, before his Dubai trip, to question him over allegations that N44 billion ($290 million) was looted from Delta State government coffers during his time in office.


But a crowd of militants prevented police from arresting him in his hometown in Oghara.


Daily Champion


Related stories: Ibori's sister convicted in london for money laundering


Video interview with James Ibori about corruption charges


Video report on the EFCC crackdown on corruption in Nigeria



Cocaine and politics

For a nation that is apparently obsessed with its own unedifying history, it is very tempting to assume that the future of Nigeria will re-play its past if no serious effort is made to arrest the situation. Campaign for any elective office in Nigeria has become a cash-and-carry auction. Not only does the country understand this obvious menace, but for generations we all have come to accept it.


The reality is that politics is the only thriving business in the country today. A former Senate President, Adolphus Wabara, alluded to this fact when he said in 2005 that politics was an investment, and that a politician could sell all his landed property to get elected into an office. The recent case of Mr. Eme Zuru Ayortor, a 52-year-old politician in Edo State, who is eyeing a House of Assembly seat in 2011, illustrates the desperation of many Nigerian politicians.


Ayortor, a United States-trained pharmacist, was arrested by the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) while attempting to export 2.129kg of cocaine. He was about to board a Lufthansa flight to Frankfurt, Germany at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos when he was intercepted at the central screening area with the aid of a scanning machine. Ayortor's confession said it all: "I contested the 2007 House of Assembly election in Edo State and lost," he was quoted as saying. "I also lost all my savings as a practising pharmacist in that election. Now, the coast is clear and I am being favoured to run in 2011 in my party. That was how I got involved in this mess. I needed to reposition myself for the 2011 election financially. I thought that with my position and appearance, there would be no problem at the screening. I do not know where to start, from here."


It is not an isolated case, unfortunately. We recall that last year, Senator Nuhu Aliyu, a retired Assistant Inspector General of Police, raised the alarm on the floor of the Senate that he could identify a handful of his colleagues in the House who had been involved in drug deals and whose cases he had personally investigated as a senior cop. His revelation provoked a furore in the National Assembly. Amidst threats and counter-threats, the senator was forced to eat his words. The rest is now history.


The truth, however, is that not many decent people, earning an honest living, can afford the cost of winning elections in Nigeria today. Given the obvious absence of ideology-based, articulate, issues-oriented campaigns, money is now virtually the only essential ingredient of electoral success in the country. Before the first vote is cast in a presidential or governorship primary election, the nation's moneybags and party financiers would have privately determined which candidate should receive his party's ticket. It is thus unrealistic to expect our elected officials to operate in a system that requires them to raise millions or even billions of naira in campaign financing, without powerful strings being attached to such 'investments'.


The price of sustaining such a blatantly cash-driven electoral process has been a worsening of official corruption in the system, since the return of democratic rule in 1999, and an increase of public skepticism and mistrust towards the government. Disillusionment about politics now runs so deep that the majority of voters no longer participate in the political process. The people now know, from painful experience, that elections in our country are a sordid affair, often involving fraud, robbery, drug pushing, banditry, assassinations, and official deceit. In this mercenary culture, where money is increasingly the sole decisive factor in choosing our leaders, the impression is unmistakable that the government goes to the highest bidder. The security agencies saddled with the job of discreetly screening politicians for moral suitability for public office have been sucked into the money-spinning game.


We urge the NDLEA to dig into the activities of the drug barons who sponsor other desperate Nigerians in this messy trade. Also, the security agencies should show more patriotism in screening prospective candidates for the 2011 general elections. There are so many Ayortors who want to win elections at all costs. The harsh economy also needs to be addressed by the Jonathan administration. A situation whereby credit facilities at low interest rates do not exist for people to set up legitimate businesses and generate employment will continue to breed public office seekers who see politics as the only source of high returns on investment. Besides, a return to the practice of fiscal federalism is required so as to curtail the present entrenched culture of looting 'free money' from crude oil exports.


Daily Independent


Related stories: Nigerian politician arrested with cocaine


Video report on the EFCC crackdown on corruption in Nigeria


Video report on Nigerian woman arrested for smuggling cocaine in stomach


CNN's video report on the Drug War in Nigeria



Wednesday, June 2, 2010

Video - Obafemi Martins talks about Eagles chances



Super Eagles striker Obafemi Martins talks about African countries having something to prove at the FIFA 2010 World Cup starting in a few weeks.


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Ibori's sister convicted in london for money laundering

After months of legal battle, a 12-member jury deliberating on the money laundering trial of associates of the former Delta State governor, Mr. James Ibori, yesterday convicted his sister, Christine Ibori-Ibie on all charges of money laundering and mortgage fraud.


The jury, however, acquitted Ibori's former assistant, Adebimpe Pogoson, of the charges against her. The jury is yet to announce its verdict pertaining to the third accused aide, Udoamaka Okoronkwo, who is Ibori's mistress.


The money laundering trial involving Ibori's female aides began in September 2009 at the Southwark Crown Court, London, after Ms Pogoson, a personal assistant on confidential matters during his tenure as the Delta State Governor, and Christine were charged in December 2007 on three counts of conspiring "together with Mr Ibori, Udoamaka Onuigbo and others, to defraud the Delta State government."


The aides allegedly helped the former governor move an estimated £70 million worth of looted funds through several London banks.


In a swift reaction to the conviction, spokesman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Mr. Femi Babafemi, told LEADERSHIP last night: "The development is a clear indication that EFCC's case against James Ibori is justified and not a political witch-hunt as the public is meant to believe."


Ibori is currently detained in Dubai, the United Arab Emirates, where he was recently arrested by INTERPOL after evading arrest by the EFCC.


The nation's anti-graft agency says Ibori stole as much as $292 million while as governor in the oil-rich state. In December, a court in Asaba, Delta State, dismissed a 170-count fraud case against Ibori. He was arrested on May 12 in Dubai on a UK warrant and remains there, but is free on bail.


Meanwhile, Mr. Ian Winter, counsel to Bhadresh Gohil,an associate of the former Delta State governor, James Ibori, has filed an urgent motion asking the Southwark Crown Court in London to try his client, Mr. Gohil, independently of Ibori's first wife, Theresa Nkoyo, who is standing trial for money laundering.


Winter reportedly backed out of his defence for Nkoyo over her inability to settle the required legal bills. Contrary to the economic and image-related reason advanced by Gohil for the urgency of his motion, LEADERSHIP learnt that the major problem was that Nkoyo's solicitors are now 'off the record' because of her inability to pay her legal bills.


Meanwhile,Ibori has rejected the judgement of the Southwark Court London, delivered Tuesday June 1, 2010. This is because despite the Judge's directive of last week that every charge must be proved beyond reasonable doubt, despite the failure of the Crown Prosecution to establish any proceeds of crime, despite the Prosecution's failure to evidence any crime, it is difficult to understand how his sister alone could have been found guilty of money laundering without proof by the London court.


In a statement signed by his media assistant, Tony Eluemunor, Ibori said: "It is a fact that during the judge's summing up last week, he expressely directed that the mortgage charges were "not safe" because the evidence presented by the the prosecution had been totally destroyed by the defence during cross-examination; this fact was even conceeded in open court by the prosecution.


Leadership


Related stories: Video interview with James Ibori about corruption charges


Video report on the EFCC crackdown on corruption in Nigeria


Hillary Clinton attacks corruption and bad governance in Nigeria


Video report on the EFCC crackdown on corruption in Nigeria




Rashidi Yekini says Eagles fighting spirit is gone

Yekini says Nigeria will have a hard task excelling at the World Cup Not many strikers in Africa put as much fear into defenders as did the gangling Rashidi Yekini in his heyday. More than a decade after he last played for the Super Eagles at France 98, Yekini still holds the scoring record for Nigeria.


Even though he is hardly in the public sphere these days, his words are held in high esteem. His tally of eight goals during qualifying led the country to their first World Cup participation in 1994 and he went on to score the country's first ever goal in the tournament with a celebration that ranks amongst the most interesting ever seen.


However, Yekini, who played for Vitoria Setubal in Portugal, feels that the present crop of Eagles are not as committed to the cause of the nation as he and his compatriots were 16 years ago when they reached the second round at their first attempt.


"Most of the players in the present Eagles lack that commitment to take their individual game to the next level," Yekini told Sportsday.


"They lack the passion to do something extra, something new and something special. It is only those that do new and special things in football that get special awards, mention and recognition."


It is worthy of note that the total goals combined between the two leading scorers in the present Super Eagles, Everton's Yakubu Aiyegbeni and Wolfsburg's Obafemi Martins, is not up to Yekini's total of 37.


However, he refuses to compare himself with anyone.


"It is not in name but in your ability to go the extra mile, your ability to take risks and your ability to do what others cannot do.


"I will not rate any player because I'm not used to doing that, nor will I compare myself with anyone.


"You and I watch what other forwards do in Europe. You witnessed Lionel Messi scoring over 40 goals this past season. We saw Didier Drogba score 36 goals or so for Chelsea, but the same cannot be said of Nigerian strikers who all played alongside the aforementioned players in Europe.


"I remember when we were in Europe, I ranked among the top scorers season in, season out."


Yekini's expectations for the team at the World Cup are low.


"Our chances are as good as our preparations. Unfortunately, that is what most people don't want to hear.


"Honestly, I'm not comfortable with our team. The real fighting spirit is gone. We struggle to win, we struggle to score and we even struggle to play well," Yekini said.


Daily Trust


Related stories: Video - Obafemi Martins talks about Eagles chances 


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Interview with Super Eagles new coach Lars Lagerback


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Video overview of Group B in the 2010 World Cup