Former Delta state governor James Ibori pleads guilty to money laundering

Former governor of Delta State, Chief James Ibori, pleaded guilty to 10 charges of fraud and money laundering in a London court Monday, paving the way for the British police to confiscate his assets and return them to Nigeria.

Under the plea bargain agreement he entered with his British prosecutors, he is expected to get a lighter jail sentence which he may serve in Nigeria under the proposed UK Prisoner Transfer Agreement with the Federal Government.

Monday, with his trial at London's Southwark crown court about to begin, Ibori changed his original plea and admitted stealing money from Delta State and laundering it in London through a number of offshore companies.

Ibori admitted to fraud totalling more than $79 million (N12.6 billion), said to be part of total embezzlement that could exceed $250 million (N40 billion).

He will be sentenced at the same court on April 16 and 17.

Prosecutor Sasha Wass told the court Ibori had accepted he was involved in "wide-scale theft, fraud and corruption when he was governor of Delta State".

When he ran for the governorship of Delta State, Ibori allegedly used a false date of birth to conceal previous convictions because a criminal record would have excluded him from taking part in the election.

"Mr Ibori tricked his way into public office. He had tricked the Nigerian authorities and the Nigerian voters. He was thus never the legitimate governor of Delta State," said Wass.

"We are pleased with today's guilty pleas which mark the culmination of a seven-year inquiry into James Ibori's corrupt activities," said Detective Inspector Paul Whatmore of the Metropolitan police. "We will now be actively seeking the confiscation of all of his stolen assets so they can be repatriated for the benefit of the people of Delta State."

Ibori, whose address in England was given as Primrose Hill in north London, was working as a cashier in a branch of a DIY store in Ruislip, Middlesex, when he moved to Nigeria and worked his way up through the political ranks to become a state governor in 1999, the court was told.

The court also heard that as governor of Delta State, Ibori racked up credit card bills of $200,000 a month and owned a fleet of armoured Range Rovers.

He was trying to buy a plane for $20 million at the time he was arrested in 2010 in Dubai at the request of the Metropolitan Police and extradited to London last year.

His wife, Theresa Ibori; sister, Christine Ibori-Idie; associate, Udoamaka Okoronkwo; and London-based solicitor Bhadresh Gohil have all already been convicted of money laundering.

Britain's Department for International Development (DfID) funds the Metropolitan police's proceeds of corruption unit (POCU), which investigated the case, at a cost of approximately £750,000 a year. The unit began investigating Ibori in 2005, working alongside the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

The British police had earlier dropped corruption charges levelled against Ibori, leaving him to face money laundering charges.

A source had told THISDAY at the weekend that both the prosecution and Ibori had become trial weary and were looking forward to a quick resolution of the case, which began about seven years ago.

According to the source, the investigators had not made much progress in their search for evidence that has cost the British taxpayers over £14 million.

In June 2010, a Southwark court in London convicted his sister, Ibori-Ibie, for money laundering and mortgage fraud.

The 12-member jury held that she was guilty as charged for helping her brother to embezzle about $101.5 million while he was in office.

Ibori-Ibie and Okoronkwo-Onuigbo were later sentenced to 21 years in prison in London for their different roles in the case.

This Day

Bomb blast rocks Church in Jos

The police in Jos have said that "at least" six persons were killed by the bomb blasts that rocked the Church of Christ in Nigeria (COCIN) headquarters on Sunday.

The command's spokesman Samuel Dabai, who disclosed this, however he said he was not sure of the total number of those injured.

Some of the cars affected by the blast

But the Plateau Chapter of the Red Cross, who also declined to be specific on the number of those killed, put the casualty figure at 50.

According to the chairman of the Red Cross, Mr Manasseh Pampe, the figure comprised victims taken to Plateau Specialist Hospital, Sauki Hospital and the Jos University Teaching Hospital (JUTH).

"The Red Cross took 35 victims to Plateau Specialist Hospital, 10 were taken to JUTH and five were taken to Sauki Hospital.

"But the Plateau Government later directed that all the casualties hospitalised at Sauki Hospital be moved to the State Specialist Hospital. That we have done," Pampe said.

He said that three of the victims taken to JUTH had been treated and discharged while seven were still at the hospital.

Pampe, however, said that he could not comment on the figure of those killed in the explosion as he declared that "it is not part of the responsibility of Red Cross".

Dabai, while speaking on the number of those killed, said that the two suicide bombers were killed in addition to four others including two women who died at the scene.

Two others died at the Plateau Specialist Hospital, he added.

He confirmed that one of the bombers died in the vehicle that conveyed the explosives, while the other was killed at the scene of the blast by the angry worshippers.

Dabai, however, refused to react to reports that some suspected Boko Haram members were arrested with explosives around Gada Biu area of Jos.

"I will get back to you on that. For now, I have been busy handling the explosion situation."

He said that the police were on top of the situation and urged members of the public to go about their lawful activities but warned against taking the laws into their hands.

Efforts to speak with the military Special Task Force (STF) maintaining security in the state proved abortive as the spokesman, Capt. Mdahyehya Markus, did not answer several calls to his phone.

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Man discovers wife's body in freezer

Chief Sa'adu Abdullahi, an Auchi-based legal practitioner, on Friday told an Abuja High Court how he and two of his in-laws discovered the corpse of his wife, Afshatu, in her deep freezer.

Mrs Abdullahi, a mother of three and a top NNPC staff, was murdered on Nov. 5, 2011 in her house located off Ladoke Akintola Boulevard, in Garki II.

The office of the Inspector-General of Police on Feb. 16, arraigned Chiwendu Hart-Amanya, 30, Kenneth Chigozie, 21, and Ejike Igbe, 18, before Justice Hussein Baba-Yusuf on a six-count charge including felony and murder of Mrs Afshatu Abdullahi.

The prosecution counsel, Sam Lough told the court that Hart-Amanya was the driver of the deceased, while Chigozie was the steward.

Igbe was arrested for being in possession of the deceased's cars.

The prosecution said the offence contravened Sections 315, 316, 317 and 318 of the Penal Code.

It would be recalled that all the three accused persons pleaded not guilty to the charges.

At the resumed hearing on Friday, Abdullahi, husband of late Afshatu, told the court how the corpse of his wife was discovered in the kitchen freezer with deep cuts on her neck and other parts of her body.

Abdullahi told the court that during the last Eid-el Kabir holiday on Nov. 6, 2011, Afshatu had called to say that she would be in Auchi for the celebration with her family.

He said she had called to tell him that she would come to see the family, and that after waiting for three days without hearing from her, he decided to come to Abuja to check her.

"When I got to Abuja, I went straight to the NNPC where she works and was told that no one had seen her."

Abdullahi told the court that a search party that was organised, found only the security man, Ali Alpha in Afshatu's house, while the first and second, who live in the boy's quarters, were nowhere to be found.

He said that Alpha said he had not seen his madam for a few days and assumed that she had traveled.

"We broke into the house and found the place in disarray, with many expensive furniture missing and her jewelry gone; it was obvious the house had been burgled.

"While searching, my brother-in law, Tahiru Momoh, opened a deep freezer in the kitchen and we discovered my beloved wife's body inside it.

"We called the Police and in the cause of their investigations, neighbours told them (Police) that they saw the driver driving my wife's Infinity Toyota SUV some days earlier.

"The security man also told the Police that the driver (first accused) came back on the same day to take away the second 2011 brand of Toyota SUV."

Abdullahi said that he was hospitalised for three days after the corpse of his wife was found in the freezer.

"I was shocked and shaken to my bone marrow," he said.

During cross-examination by counsel to the three accused, Mr Paul Esewomo, Abdullahi debunked any rumours that he and his wife were separated.

Abdullahi also told the court that he loved his wife "100 per cent".

Justice Baba-Yusuf adjourned further hearing in the suit to Thursday and Friday, March 8 and 9.

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Wife beats husband to death

Tears flowed freely Friday from a 13-year-old boy Steven Imagbe, as he watched with disbelief his mother allegedly beat his father to death during a heated argument over payment of school fees.

The argument, according to report, was prompted by the refusal of the victim to play the traditional role of a father when he turned down request by his wife, Mrs. Stella Imagbe to pay the two terms school fees of their only child.

The victim, Andrew Imagbe, a casual worker with a wood treatment factory Sapele, Sapele Local Government Area had bluntly told his wife that he had no money for the school fees of his child following a pending case of an allegation of infidelity against her when the woman allegedly threw the first punch.

Mr. Andrew Imagbe who was said to be having a meal of Eba and Okro soup stood up and was advancing towards the woman obviously to teach her a lesson of her life when the woman allegedly hit the man on his head with a broken wooden door.

Weekend Champion gathered that the victim who reportedly slumped, and died instantly before medical attention could be provided for him.

The woman Mrs. Stella Imagbe, a petty trader and a politician attempted to escape when she observed that her husband was bleeding through the nostrils and mouth but was over-powered by neighbours who were attracted to the scene by the alarm raised by the child.

Already, the suspect has been handed over to the Delta State Police Command for prosecution.

The home of the couple at Okpe road, Sapele was completely deserted yesterday when our correspondent visited.

Delta State Police Public Relations Officer Assistant Superitendent of Police, ASP Charles Muka said investigation on the incident had commenced.

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419 scammers scammed by Australian woman

Sarah Jane Cochrane-Ramsey, 23, was employed by the Nigerians as an "agent" in March 2010 but was unaware they were scam artists, the Brisbane District Court heard today.

Her job was to provide an Australian bank account through which they could funnel any payments they received through their dodgy account on a popular car sales website.

Cochrane-Ramsey was to keep eight per cent of all money paid into her account and forward the rest to the Nigerian scammers.

However, the court heard she kept the two payments she received - totalling $33,350 - and spent most of it on herself.

The car buyers who were ripped off reported the matter to police, who traced the account to Cochrane-Ramsey.

Police inquiries found her employers were based in Nigeria but had been using a web server in New York to run their dodgy car sales listings.

Cochrane-Ramsey pleaded guilty to one count of aggravated fraud on Thursday.

Judge Terry Martin described her as having a "dishonest bent" after hearing she had a history of stealing and property offences.

He adjourned the sentence to allow her time to provide further details of money she claimed was in a bank account that would allow her to make some repayments.

Cochrane-Ramsey will be sentenced next month.

She was allowed bail until then.

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