James Ibori Reacts to Reports that He's Returning £6.9m Loot Back to Nigeria

 

Ex Delta State governor, James Ibori, has condemned reports that FG is set to receive a fresh 6.9 million pounds sterling described as “Ibori loot”.

Ibori’s media assistant, Tony Eluemunor, in a statement said “there is no ‘Ibori loot’ anywhere in the world. Such money, whether in British pounds, American dollars or the Nigerian naira just does not exist.

“This is because the Ibori London trial is not yet over. It is a fact that the confiscation hearing has not started at all, and remains months away into the future. This makes it disappointing that a high official of the state such as the Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, Abdullahi Malami may have been misled into believing that an Ibori loot not only exists anywhere, but, he even put a figure (6.9 million pounds) to it.

“With all due respect to the minister and the President Muhammadu Buhari administration, it is curious that such a misleading statement could have come less than a week that dozens of well-respected foreign media organisations including the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), “The Times of London, The Guardian of London, and a host of Nigerian news outlets reported that the case against Ibori and his associates have become shaky as some operatives of the London Metropolitan Police have been accused of bribery and corruption in the course of their investigations.

"Thus, at the Thursday January 21, 2016 hearing, the prosecution was forced to withdraw its case against one of Ibori’s counsel, Mr. Bradesh Gohil. It had charged Gohil of leaking fabricated documents to media organisations and Members of (British) Parliament, but Gohil turned the case against the Police, accusing it of misleading the court with tainted evidence from corrupt operatives and of withholding key documents, which could have proved police corruption…”

On Tuesday, Malami told the House of Representatives Committee on Justice that Nigeria was expecting at least, $740 million Abacha loot and another 6.9 million pounds sterling Ibori loot.


The Sun