London court discharges
order against Ibori
By OLA AGBAJE
Tuesday, October 2, 2007
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•James
Ibori
Photo: Sun News Publishing |
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Former Governor of Delta State, Chief James Ibori, was on
Monday, in London, given a clean bill of health over allegations
of corruption as a court in the British capital ordered his
seized assets released immediately.
The Southwalk Crown Court, London, had on August 2, 2007 ordered
the seizure of the assets and prevented the former chief executive
from having access to them.
However, the court in a ruling on Monday morning, upturned
the order with cost against the Crown that brought the matter
against Ibori.
According to the Honourable Judge Goymer QC, the prosecution
was unable to provide answer to the question raised by Ibori’s
counsel, Mr Ivan Pearce that there was no predicate offence
in Nigeria to justify the order of restraint granted on August
2, 2007.
The court held that the heavy reliance placed on the alleged
false declaration purportedly made by Ibori could not be enough
ground to sustain the order.
The court held: "Jonathan Hall, counsel to the Crown
had relied heavily on Chief Ibori’s alleged false declaration
as evidence of corruption – the false declaration alone
do not give rise to corruption.
"The key question is still that which was raised by counsel
to Ibori, Mr Ivan Pearce, on August 2 2007 – there is
no predicate offence in Nigeria."
The court noted that two months grace was given to the Crown
to furnish it with more evidence that could sustain the order
but nothing was done in that direction.
Goymer said: "I have allowed the Crown two months to
put new material before the court to support the allegations
against Chief Ibori. If anything, on the material before me
today (which was available to the Crown on August 2, 2007)
there is less cause for me to believe that Chief Ibori has
benefited from criminal conduct in Nigeria."
Ibori’s assets had been seized sometime in August, apparently
at the instigation of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission
(EFCC) which has vowed to prosecute governors who allegedly
soiled their hands while in office. But as with many other
cases brought for prosecution, the case was not water tight,
having been poorly investigated.
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