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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