6.2 C
New York
Friday, March 29, 2024

James Ibori Exposes Corruption In The UK Legal System

Must read

by Onyema Dike

When James Onanefe Ibori was sentenced to 13 years imprisonment (reduced to to 4 and ½ years by the presiding Judge, Nicholas Pitts) on Tuesday April 17, 2012, many thought that was the end of it but little did they know that like the phoenix Ibori would rise and haunt those who sent him to jail.

Well, that seems to be this case as recent revelations are making clear.

Ibori was also expected to undergo a confiscation trial apart from the first trial and he is expected to lose some of his assets in the UK.

Well, the good news in Ibroi’s camp is that he is expected to leave jail in March 2016 and then go for his confiscation hearing but as things stand, it looks like the tide is turning in Ibori’s favour.

What has changed, well the curious twist is that Ibori’s erstwhile accusers have become the ones in the dock. How did this happen? Ibori’s former lawyer, Badresh Gohil, who was also sentenced to jail has provided details which point to the rotten underbelly of not just the British police but its justice system which appears to have been compromised and used to railroad Ibori to jail.

The evidence was presented before Lord Tomlinson at the same Southwark court by Ibori’s defence lawyers who shocked the Southwark Court, on Wednesday 10th February 2016, with their revelations.

Ibori’s former lawyer, the Indian barrister, Badresh Gohil dropped a bombshell that has left the British judicial system in disarray. His allegations of professional misconduct, dishonesty, perverting the course of justice and criminal non-disclosures as well as lying to the trial court and Court of Appeal have left Ibori’s accusers reeling and running from the case.

A thoroughly disgusted Lord Tomlinson who has taken over the case from Justice Pitts who is soon-to-retire, had to issue an order requiring the Metropolitan Police and Prosecuting team to appear in court by 2pm after they failed to appear on the morning of Wednesday February 10, 2016.

According to him, long before the Ibori confiscation trial was due to commence, the British Government had reached an agreement with the Nigerian government requiring the Nigerian government pay the British Department for International Development (DFID) 25 million Pounds Sterling from monies that will be confiscated from Ibori, before any remittance is made to Nigeria.

To prove his case, Gohil showed that the DFID is paying the salaries of some police investigators on the Ibori case, especially Detective Constable, John McDonald.

Gohil’s allegations has had consequences; two prosecutors, Sasha Wass who was very active in the Ibori trial and Esther Schutzer-Weissmann have been dismissed from the Ibori case and all the prosecution lawyers plus the entire police officers that have represented the British Police have been dismissed from the Ibori case and all other cases stemming from it – following allegations of corruption against them; lies and deliberate misleading of the court.”

With all these happening one is left to ask a simple question: why is a multilateral agency funding a corruption trial and why would a multilateral agency be getting such a huge chunk of funds expected to be confiscated from a former governor of Nigeria? Another question is why should money allegedly stolen from Nigeria end up in the UK?

Onyema Dike is a freelance journalist. 

More articles

- Advertisement -The Fast Track to Earning Income as a Publisher
- Advertisement -The Fast Track to Earning Income as a Publisher
- Advertisement -Top 20 Blogs Lifestyle

Latest article