James Ibori’s Jail Term Appeal For Hearing Tomorrow

James Onanefe Ibori is serving 13 years in UK prison for money laundering

An appeal filed by the imprisoned former governor of Delta State, James Onanefe Ibori to have his prison term slashed, has been listed for hearing tomorrow at the Royal Courts of Justice on the Strand in London.

The case will be heard by Lord Justice Treacy and Mr. Justice Edwards-Stuart, Recorder Of Leeds sitting as a judge of the Court Of Appeal criminal division.

Last year, Mr. Ibori was sentenced to 14 years in jail by a Southwark Crown Court judge after he pleaded guilty to stealing about $250 million which he laundered through banks in the United Kingdom.   The monies, which were stolen from the coffers of Delta State while he was governor there, were lavished on a Bombardier jet, luxury cars, expensive homes in London, and jewelry.

The assets he purchased with the laundered funds are currently the subject of a court-ordered forfeiture around the globe including the US, South Africa and Dubai.

After he fled Nigeria, Mr. Ibori was arrested in May 2010 in Dubai on an international warrant of arrest, and later extradited to the United Kingdom to face trial the money laundering charges.

Before his conviction and imprisonment, Mr. Ibori’s sister, Christine Ibie-Ibori; his wife, Theresa Ibori; and his mistress, Udoamaka Okoronkwo-Onuigbo, were also convicted. They were each jailed for five years for acting as accomplices in the extensive money laundering operations of the former governor.
Also jailed was Ibori’s lawyer, Bhadresh Gohil.  Other jailed accomplices include Daniel McCann, and Lambertus De Boer.

In a prior trial in Nigeria that was manipulated by the government of Umaru Yar’Adua and Goodluck Jonathan, Ibori was acquitted of all of the 170 charges he faced that were basically the same as the one the former governor faced in England.  

“As things stand, Ibori was only to spend seven years in jail in England,” an analyst pointed out in New York today.  “If through some well-paid and clever lawyering that sentence happens to be reduced by a couple of years, Ibori would in the end only have missed a few PDP (Peoples Democratic Party) lunches. 

As Dipreye Alamieyeseigha has proved, Mr. Jonathan will grant him state pardon and give him the GCFR.  He will run for the Senate and just like old times, rejoin his criminal old band!”