Ibori
Convicted
former Delta State Governor, Chief James Ibori, hid some of his assets in an
indigenous integrated oil company, Oando Plc, according to a British
prosecutor.
The
prosecutor was quoted by Reuters in a report on Monday as saying that
the former governor, who is serving a 13-year jail term in the United Kingdom
for fraud and money-laundering, hid some of his assets in the oil firm; adding
that money passed from Oando’s accounts into Ibori’s Swiss accounts.
Ibori
had in February 2012 pleaded guilty to 10 counts of fraud and money-laundering
worth £50m.
Prosecutor
Sasha Wass was quoted as telling the court that she would be presenting
evidence that Ibori had “asserted ownership of a large part” of Oando,
Nigeria’s biggest home-grown oil firm, which is listed in Lagos, Johannesburg
and Toronto.
“The
Crown will assert that Oando is a company where James Ibori has hidden assets,”
Wass said, giving no further details.
One
of the biggest embezzlement cases seen in Britain, the successful prosecution
of Ibori was also a rare example of a senior Nigerian politician being held to
account for the corruption that blights Africa’s most populous country.
At
the time of Ibori’s sentencing in April 2012, Judge Anthony Pitts said the £50m
that he had admitted to stealing might be a “ludicrously low” fraction of his
total booty, which could be more than £200m.
The
confiscation hearing will shed further light on the scale of Ibori’s wealth and
determine whether he emerges from jail impoverished or still in possession of a
large enough fortune to regain a position of influence in Nigeria.
Ibori
could be released as early as 2016 because he spent two years in custody before
his sentencing and because he will be eligible for parole halfway through his
prison term.
He
was not in court on Monday and his lawyer, Ivan Krolick, said Ibori did not
wish to attend the confiscation hearing although he would come to court to give
evidence if necessary.
In
May, the Court of Appeal had rejected Ibori’s appeal against the length of his
sentence.
During
his sentencing hearing, the court heard that Ibori had acquired six foreign
properties worth £6.9m, a fleet of luxury cars including a Bentley and a
Maybach 62, and that he had tried to buy a $20m private jet. His three
daughters were attending a private school in rural England.
However,
the Head, Corporate Communications, Oando Plc, Mr. Ainojie Irune, who spoke
with our correspondent in Lagos, denied the report that the jailed ex-governor
owned a larger part of the oil company.
He
said, “We state categorically that Mr. James Ibori does not own ‘a large part
of Oando’ and that this statement is incorrect and misleading. Oando is a
publicly traded company listed on the Nigerian and Johannesburg Stock Exchanges
and does not and cannot control the trading in its securities on the floor of
the respective Exchanges.
“Based
on our current shareholding register, Mr. James Ibori’s shareholding stands at
443 shares out of a total issued and paid up share capital of 6.8 billion
ordinary shares, which is clearly insignificant, and cannot be considered as ‘a
large part of Oando.’
“Oando
also stated that it does accept that sometime in 2004, in the normal course of
its business, it sold some of its foreign exchange earnings for naira and the
recipient of the US dollars was a company, which has now turned out to be one
controlled by James Ibori.
“At
the time of the transaction, this information was unknown to Oando. The total
amount was $2.7m made in three separate transactions over a period of about
seven months. This amount was insignificant considering the company’s turnover
of approximately $800m in 2004.”
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