Nigeria Content Online

Christine
Ibori-Ibie, the only surviving sister of James Ibori, and Udoamaka
Onuigbo (Okoronkwo), his associate, were yesterday sentenced to 5 years
each in prison by Judge Christopher Hardy of a Southwark London Crown
Court.

The sentence
followed the June 1 and 2 2010 court ruling that found Ms. Ibori-Ibie
and Ms. Onuigbo guilty of the charges of money laundering and mortgage
fraud levelled against them.

The jury however, acquitted the third accused in the case, Adebimpe Pogoson, Mr. Ibori’s former assistant, of all charges.

The money
laundering trial involving Mr. Ibori’s female aides began at the
Southwark Crown Court, London, after Ms. Pogoson, (a personal assistant
on confidential matters during his tenure as Delta State governor) and
his sister, Ms. Ibori-Ibie, were charged in December 2007 on three
counts of conspiring “together with Mr. Ibori, Ms. Onuigbo, and others
to defraud the Delta State government.” The aides were charged with
helping the former governor move an estimated £70 million worth of
looted funds through several London banks.

A large turn out

According to those
who attended the trial, Judge Hardy had to shift the court venue from
Court 8 (which was the original venue of the sitting) to Court 9 and
then finally to the largest court room in the Southwark London Crown
Court to accommodate the number of Nigerians who came to witness the
sentencing of the Ibori women.

The convener of the
Nigeria Liberty Forum, a civil rights group, Kayode Ogundamisi, who was
also at the court sitting, said more than 300 Nigerians were already at
the court premises by 12:30pm, although the court did not begin
proceedings till 2pm.

“The courts were
filled and people were standing outside. They were brought in and
escorted by two prison guards and the prosecution filed an application
asking the court to confisticate all the assets recovered and
unrecovered from the convicts, but the defence opposed the
application,” said Mr. Ogundamisi.

The judge subsequently fixed a later date for the case on the confistication of the assets of the convicts.

Plea for leniency

The defence counsel
to Ms. Ibori in its final submission pleaded with court to be lenient
with her. The team hinged its plea on the fact that Ms. Ibori has three
dependent children, had lived in the UK for more than 25 years, and
also needed medical care. To buttress this last point they presented
medical reports. The defence teams also brandished a letter purportedly
from a pastor stating that she is a person of good character. They also
insisted in their final summation that the real criminal in the case
was James Ibori, and that two women were only pawns in his money
laundering activities.

They admitted that
the 40 million pounds found in fixed assets in the United Kingdom were
only 10 percent of James Ibori’s total worth.

Indicting the Nigerian judiciary

During his ruling,
Judge Hardy slammed the Nigeria judiciary for allowing itself to be
influenced by Mr. Ibori. The judge described as half hearted, the fight
against corruption by its anti-graft agencies in Nigeria.

“He (the judge)
also stated that Nigeria, being a signatory to the United Nations
Convention Against Corruption, must live to the true tenets of such
agreement.

Before he passed
sentence, Judge Hardy said although he had carefully listened to the
plea for mercy by the defence and taken into account the mitigating
circumstances they outlined, he has to send a strong signal by way of a
punishment to serve as a deterrent to others.

According to Mr.
Ogundamisi, Judge Hardy also said the jury in the case believes
strongly that the two accused persons were in the full know how about
the fraudulent activities of Mr. Ibori. Mr. Hardy is also reported to
have said the real victims in this case are the Nigerian people and the
people of Delta State who have been deprived of a lot of amenities.

Background

In December 2009 ,
a Nigerian judge sitting in the Delta State, which Ibori ruled as
governor, dismissed a 170-count fraud case against him. He subsequently
fled Nigeria after the country’s anti -corruption body invited him for
questioning, following new allegations that he used Delta State
government funds for a personal business deal. Mr. Ibori was arrested
on May 12, in Dubai, on a U.K. warrant and remains there on bail.

Meanwhile, Mr.
Ibori is himself wanted in the United Kingdom to answer charges similar
to those that led to the conviction of the two women. He is, however,
still in Dubai awaiting the processing of his asylum request by the
United Arab Emirate. Meanwhile, security agencies including the London
Metropolitan Police, are hoping the claim will be rejected and Mr.
Ibori extradited to the United Kingdom. Nigeria does not have an
extradition treaty with the United Arab Emirates so the authorities
here are hoping to piggy back on the United Kingdom to ensure Mr. Ibori
answers for the charges against him.

While fielding questions at a media parley organised to mark her
second anniversary in office, in Abuja, the EFCC boss, Farida Waziri,
said that the extradition process on Mr. Ibori is in progress and that
the agency is collaborating with the UK government. “There is no
extradition treaty with the United Arab Emirates, but we have with the
UK. We have been talking and he is likely to be extradited to the UK,”
she said.