A 64yrs old James Ibori, defrauded some of the poorest people in the world out of up to £157million of public funds during his time as Nigerian Delta State governor, lying about government contracts and embezzling cash.
The crooked politician owned a £600,000 fleet of armoured Range Rovers, a £120,000 Bentley, and a £340,000 Mercedes Maybach that was shipped directly to his lavish £3.2million mansion in Johannesburg. He also had a £2.2million home in Hampstead – paid cash for in cash in 2001 – and a £311,000 townhouse in Dorset.
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The corrupt former Nigerian politician has been ordered to pay back over £101million of his ill-gotten gains more than a decade after his conviction – or face going to jail again for eight years if he doesn’t.
The ex-Wickes cashier blew millions on luxury homes, a £12.6million private jet, fees at some of the UK’s most expensive boarding schools for his children, first-class travel and exclusive hotels. He even bought properties in Washington DC and Texas.
However, Ibori moved to the UK in the 1980s where he married and set up home with his wife, Theresa Ibori, in Nower Hill, Pinner, Middlesex. He worked as a cashier at a building supplies store Wickes in Ruislip, Middlesex, earning around £5,000 a year.
He served four years in a UK prison before he voluntarily returned to Nigeria in December 2016 after being told he faced deportation. It’s believed he is still there.
After his time in Britain which saw him being convicted of petty theft, Ibori moved back in his home county and became one of Nigeria’s most influential and wealthy politicians.
He was eventually jailed for 13 years in 2012, after admitting to conspiracy to defraud, money laundering and conspiracy to make false instruments over a £23million fraud on Delta state and Akwa Ibom state between 2005 and 2007.
But at the time a sentencing judge branded this sum ‘ludicrously low’ claiming the amount the Ibori could have embezzled might have hit a staggering £200million.
Moreover, behind the scenes, he used a complex network of associates – including his wife, sister and his lover – to launder cash from his proceeds of crime.
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Chief Crown Prosecutor, CPS, Adrian Foster Proceeds of Crime Division, today said: ‘This was one of our largest international cases and illustrates how robustly the CPS tackles international illicit finance and corruption.’
At Southwark Crown Court, Judge David Tomlinson said ‘I am satisfied and formally declare that Ibori has benefited in sum of £101,514,315.21 inclusive in change of value of money in uplift.
‘I make a confiscation order in that sum because he has not satisfied me, nor has he really tried to satisfy me, that the full amount is not available.
‘I don’t find it disproportionate to order confiscation in the full amount.
‘There will be eight years of imprisonment in default of payment.’
Following one of the most complex confiscation proceeding investigations in British history, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) proved Ibori had benefited from his crimes to the tune of £101,514,315.21.
