Former Delta State governor, James Ibori who
is jailed in Britain for corruption, is likely to
appeal against his conviction on the grounds
that British police and lawyers involved in
his case were themselves corrupt, a London
court heard on Friday, October 7th.
Ibori, is serving a 13-year sentence after
pleading guilty in 2012 to 10 counts of fraud
and money-laundering.
While in office, Ibori acquired luxury
properties in Britain, the United States, South
Africa and Nigeria.
His jailing in Britain, where he had laundered
millions of pounds and sent his children to
an expensive private school, was hailed as a
high point in the international fight against
graft and an important signal to other
corrupt politicians.
But his lawyer Ivan Krolick told Southwark
Crown Court on Friday that Ibori was "95
percent certain" to challenge his conviction in
the Court of Appeal based on documents that
have only recently been disclosed to the
defence by the prosecution.
At the same hearing, Stephen Kamlish, a
lawyer for Ibori associate and convicted
money launderer Bhadresh Gohil, said the
documents showed there had been
widespread police corruption followed by a
cover-up that was still going on now.
The main allegation is that a police officer
involved in the Ibori probe took payments for
information in 2007 from a firm of private
detectives working on Ibori's behalf. At the
time, Ibori had not been arrested and was
still in Nigeria, but knew that British police
were investigating his finances. Kamlish said
prosecution lawyers had known there was
evidence of police corruption but had failed
to disclose it to defence lawyers. Krolick told
Reuters on the sidelines of Friday's court
hearing that Ibori did not know about the
payments at the time.
However, the police have said that the
allegation was thoroughly investigated and
that no one was arrested or charged, and no
misconduct identified. The officer against
whom the allegations have been made is still
in active service.
The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), after a
lengthy internal investigation, said in
September it was confident that the
convictions of Ibori and Gohil remained valid.
The CPS has said it found "material to
support the assertion that a police officer
received payment in return for information".
But the CPS conceded in September that the
material should have been disclosed to the
defence, and handed over thousands of
documents to defence lawyers. Those were
the documents that Kamlish and Krolick were
referring to in court on Friday.
Gohil has already filed an appeal against his
conviction. Krolick said Ibori was likely to do
so once his legal team had finished going
through all the newly disclosed documents.
As is normal under British procedures, Ibori
is due to be released in December after
serving half his sentence, taking into account
pre-trial detention.
Gohil, a British former
lawyer, has already been released after
serving half of a 10-year term for his role in
laundering Ibori's millions.
One of Ibori's lawyers told Reuters it was not
clear whether he would be able to return to
Nigeria immediately, because legal
proceedings concerning the confiscation of
assets of his, worth tens of millions of
dollars, were unresolved.
They were supposed
to have been resolved years ago, but have
ground to a halt due to the allegations of
police corruption and the prospect of Ibori
taking his case to the Court of Appeal.
Source: Reuters
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