The trial of the former Governor of Delta State, Chief James Ibori in England cost £14million (about N3.5billion), it was learnt yesterday.

Chairman of the Senate Committee on Drugs, Narcotics, Financial Crimes and Anti- Corruption, Senator Victor Lar, announced this when the anti-graft agencies defended their 2015 budgets before his committee in Abuja.

But Lar said the Ibori case was prosecuted at no cost to the Federal Government.

He saw no need to amend the enabling laws of the Independent Corrupt Practices and other related offences Commission (ICPC), the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), and the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) so they could receive funding directly from the Federation Account.

Lar said: “ the conviction was secured with very limited or no funds. People are quick to celebrate the conviction of James Ibori in the United Kingdom. The truth is that to secure Ibori’s conviction, a whooping sum of £14million was expended.

“That is more than 10 years recurrent and capital budgets of all the anti-corruption agencies put together.”

He added that other countries were able to prosecute financial crimes successfully because a percentage of funds recovered or the proceeds of crime was usually retained by the recovering agency for funding their operations.

He stated that most Nigerians are impatient and believe that politically exposed persons are corrupt and should be convicted.

He, however said that “the truth is that we observe the rule of law and once you are accused you are taken to court.You have to go through court processes.”

He added: “Once you are arrested and taken to court, it is outside the control of the enforcement agencies.

“So it is not entirely the fault of the enforcement agencies that there is corruption in the country.

“This administration has fought corruption more than any other time because we have more petitions; more people are taken to court and we have more convictions now more than ever before.”

Lar said: “ the conviction was secured with very limited or no funds. People are quick to celebrate the conviction of James Ibori in the United Kingdom. The truth is that to secure Ibori’s conviction, a whooping sum of £14million was expended.

But Lar said the Ibori case was prosecuted at no cost to the Federal Government.

After Yar'Adua was selected as their presidential candidate, Ibori was accused of bank-rolling Yar'Adua's 2007 camapaign, and promised a Vice-Presidential position in return. But after Yar'Adua died in office, Vice-President Goodluck Jonathan succeeded Yar'Adua, an avowed political opponent of Ibori

On December 17, 2009, A Federal High Court sitting in Asaba, Delta State, discharged and acquitted Ibori of all 170 charges of corruption brought against him by EFCC

On Tuesday, April 17, 2012, Ibori was sentenced to 13 years by Southwark Crown Court for his crimes.[38][39] Among possessions confiscated were:[38]

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 Continental GT
A Mercedes-Benz Maybach 62 bought for €407,000 cash, that was shipped direct to his mansion in South Africa
After the sentencing 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".[38]

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