The judge had risen for a short break after today’s proceedings after which he delivered his verdict.
Hello Friends!
The news making the rounds this evening, is the sentencing to 13 years in imprisonment of former Governor of Delta State, Chief James Onanefe Ibori.
Justice Anthony Pitts of the Southwark Crown Court in London has sentenced former governor of Nigeria’s oil-rich Delta State, Chief James Ibori, to 13 years imprisonment after he pleaded guilty to money laundering charges in February.
The judge had risen for a short break after today’s proceedings after which he delivered his verdict.
Judge Anthony Pitts said, “I recognize that there is another side to the man James Ibori but I am not the proper person to judge your achievements and failings as a governor, that is up to the people of Delta state,” in response to the several pleas for mitigation for the former governor. Among the people who made a passionate plea for mercy was the football star, John Fashanu.
But Anthony Pitts appeared not to have been moved as he decried Ibori’s life of corruption: “the history of dishonesty, corruption and theft in the first indictment would alone attract the maximum or close to the maximum sentence allowed by law, but there is another indictment of serious fraud which you have plead guilty to”.
The judge had risen for a short break after today’s proceedings after which he delivered his verdict.
Judge Anthony Pitts said, “I recognize that there is another side to the man James Ibori but I am not the proper person to judge your achievements and failings as a governor, that is up to the people of Delta state,” in response to the several pleas for mitigation for the former governor. Among the people who made a passionate plea for mercy was the football star, John Fashanu.
But Anthony Pitts appeared not to have been moved as he decried Ibori’s life of corruption: “the history of dishonesty, corruption and theft in the first indictment would alone attract the maximum or close to the maximum sentence allowed by law, but there is another indictment of serious fraud which you have plead guilty to”.
He said if Ibori had fought the case to the end without pleading guilty he would be looking at 24 years but will get a discount for pleading guilty.
Judge Pitts then sentenced Ibori to 13 years in prison. He deducted 645 days already spent in jail, and said Ibori would serve the rest in British jail. That means Mr. Ibori will be in prison for at least 7 years.
Unruly supporters of the former governor also besieged the court today just as they did yesterday and were ejected by the Metropolitan Police.
During yesterday’s proceedings, two Queen’s counsel, Sasha Weis and Nicholas Pennel, argued heatedly before the court for and against the freedom of Ibori.
The judge, Justice Anthony Pitts, had to ask both parties to come today so that the defence can conclude its plea for mitigation of sentence before passing his sentence.
Ibori had pleaded guilty to 10 out of the 23-count charge levelled against him on February 27, this year. Sasha Weis, QC, who is leading the prosecuting team yesterday called Ibori a thief in Government House.
She said Ibori schemed his way to power just to defraud the people of Delta State. Sasha said Ibori plotted everything before he became governor.
She said: “It is the prosecution case that during his two terms in office, he deliberatetely and systematically defrauded the people whose interest he had been elected to represent. The total sum that Mr Ibori has stolen remains unquantified. Investigation into his corrupt and fraudulent activities are still ongoing.
“However, the sums that are the subject of the two indictments to which Ibori had pleaded guilty amount to approximately £50 million. This sum represents a fraction of the total sum stolen by Ibori and those whom he engaged to assist him.
“The evidence makes it clear that Ibori planned his offences some considerable time in advance of his election to office.
Judge Pitts then sentenced Ibori to 13 years in prison. He deducted 645 days already spent in jail, and said Ibori would serve the rest in British jail. That means Mr. Ibori will be in prison for at least 7 years.
Unruly supporters of the former governor also besieged the court today just as they did yesterday and were ejected by the Metropolitan Police.
During yesterday’s proceedings, two Queen’s counsel, Sasha Weis and Nicholas Pennel, argued heatedly before the court for and against the freedom of Ibori.
The judge, Justice Anthony Pitts, had to ask both parties to come today so that the defence can conclude its plea for mitigation of sentence before passing his sentence.
Ibori had pleaded guilty to 10 out of the 23-count charge levelled against him on February 27, this year. Sasha Weis, QC, who is leading the prosecuting team yesterday called Ibori a thief in Government House.
She said Ibori schemed his way to power just to defraud the people of Delta State. Sasha said Ibori plotted everything before he became governor.
She said: “It is the prosecution case that during his two terms in office, he deliberatetely and systematically defrauded the people whose interest he had been elected to represent. The total sum that Mr Ibori has stolen remains unquantified. Investigation into his corrupt and fraudulent activities are still ongoing.
“However, the sums that are the subject of the two indictments to which Ibori had pleaded guilty amount to approximately £50 million. This sum represents a fraction of the total sum stolen by Ibori and those whom he engaged to assist him.
“The evidence makes it clear that Ibori planned his offences some considerable time in advance of his election to office.
He did not become accidentially involved in a pre-existing culture of corruption. He changed his date of birth in 1996, three years before he was elected. This must have been done with the purpose of tricking his way into public office.
The evidence demonstrates that from the moment Ibori was elected, he set about enriching himself at the expense of some of the poorest people in the world. His greed increased exponentially during the course of his governorship as did his arrogance.”
Ibori had faced corruption charges in Nigeria and in Britain, where he was pursued by a police unit which investigates the activities of foreign officials who seek to launder stolen assets in Britain.
The BBC reported that Sasha Wass, QC, prosecuting, told the court Ibori “deliberately and systematically” defrauded the people he was elected to represent.
The court heard he came to the UK in the 1980s and worked as a cashier at a Wickes DIY store in Neasden, north west London.
He was convicted in 1991 of stealing from the store but then returned to Nigeria and began his climb up the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) network.
When he ran for governor he lied about his date of birth to hide his criminal conviction in the UK – which would have prevented him standing for office.
Ibori, whose address was given as Primrose Hill, north London, claims to be 53 but police in London say he is 49.
He became governor in 1999 but soon began taking money from state coffers.
According to his indictment, He bought:
A house in Hampstead, north London, for £2.2m
A property in Shaftesbury, Dorset, for £311,000
A £3.2m mansion in Sandton, near Johannesburg, South Africa
A fleet of armoured Range Rovers valued at £600,000
A £120,000 Bentley
A Mercedes Maybach for 407,000 euros that was shipped direct to his mansion in South Africa.
After the hearing, Sue Patten, head of the Crown Prosecution Service central fraud group, said it would bid to confiscate the assets Ibori had acquired his riches “at the expense of the some of the poorest people in the world”, the BBC reported.
International Development Secretary Andrew Mitchell said: “James Ibori’s sentence sends a strong and important message to those who seek to use Britain as a refuge for their crimes.”Corruption is a cancer in developing countries and the coalition government has a zero-tolerance approach to it.”
Ibori had faced corruption charges in Nigeria and in Britain, where he was pursued by a police unit which investigates the activities of foreign officials who seek to launder stolen assets in Britain.
The BBC reported that Sasha Wass, QC, prosecuting, told the court Ibori “deliberately and systematically” defrauded the people he was elected to represent.
The court heard he came to the UK in the 1980s and worked as a cashier at a Wickes DIY store in Neasden, north west London.
He was convicted in 1991 of stealing from the store but then returned to Nigeria and began his climb up the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) network.
When he ran for governor he lied about his date of birth to hide his criminal conviction in the UK – which would have prevented him standing for office.
Ibori, whose address was given as Primrose Hill, north London, claims to be 53 but police in London say he is 49.
He became governor in 1999 but soon began taking money from state coffers.
According to his indictment, He bought:
A house in Hampstead, north London, for £2.2m
A property in Shaftesbury, Dorset, for £311,000
A £3.2m mansion in Sandton, near Johannesburg, South Africa
A fleet of armoured Range Rovers valued at £600,000
A £120,000 Bentley
A Mercedes Maybach for 407,000 euros that was shipped direct to his mansion in South Africa.
After the hearing, Sue Patten, head of the Crown Prosecution Service central fraud group, said it would bid to confiscate the assets Ibori had acquired his riches “at the expense of the some of the poorest people in the world”, the BBC reported.
International Development Secretary Andrew Mitchell said: “James Ibori’s sentence sends a strong and important message to those who seek to use Britain as a refuge for their crimes.”Corruption is a cancer in developing countries and the coalition government has a zero-tolerance approach to it.”
Culled from PM News.
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