A High court in London has awarded former
Delta State governor, James Ibori, a nominal
£1 (about N400) as damages over his claim of
unlawful detention by British Home Secretary
Amber Rudd.
Mrs Justice Cheema-Grubb agreed that Ibori,
who spent years in UK jail for money
laundering, was unlawfully held for one day, 18
hours and 10 minutes between December 20
and 21 last year.
She however ruled, in a way that mocked
Ibori’s claim, that he is only entitled to a
nominal £1 of the sum. Ibori had
claimed £4,000 in damages.
She said the Home Secretary “failed to have
regard to her limits to detain” as attempts
were made to claw back millions from the
fraudster.
But in rejecting Ibori’s bid for thousands in
compensation, the judge ruled: “There is no
compensatory loss to Mr Ibori and I fix nominal
damages at £1.”
Ibori was extradited to the UK for trial in
February 2012 and prosecuted on the basis of
evidence from the Metropolitan Police. He
pleaded guilty to 10 serious criminal charges
over the appropriation of massive amounts of
public funds during his two terms as governor
of Delta State, Nigeria.
He was sentenced in April 2012 at Southwark
Crown Court to 13 years imprisonment, and an
order for his deportation as a foreign criminal
was made in May 2015.
Having spent time in custody in the United
Arab Emirates, he was due to be conditionally
released from prison on December 20 2016.
But the Home Office indicated that there was
no intention to deport Ibori to Nigeria until he
handed over at least £57m “proceeds of
crime.”
An email stated: “we cannot deport Mr Ibori
until the confiscation matter has been
resolved.”
On December 21 last year, the day after his due
release date, High Court Mrs Justice May
ordered Ibori to be freed on conditions,
describing the attempts to detain as “quite
extraordinary.”
The judge said: “You don’t hold someone just
because it is convenient to do so and without
plans to deport them.”
A Home Office application that Ibori be
electronically tagged and subject to strict
curfew conditions was also rejected after the
judge accepted arguments that the Home
Secretary was attempting to misuse her
immigration and deportation powers.
Ibori left the UK under his own steam on
February 3 2017, but also launched his claim
for damages for false imprisonment and breach
of his rights under the 1998 Human Rights Act
not to be unlawfully detained.
Ruling on Monday that Ibori had been held
unlawfully for almost two days, Mrs Justice
Cheema-Grubb said it followed a failure to hold
effective confiscation proceedings.
It was in the context of awaiting the making of
an assets confiscation order, and likely
subsequent efforts to “recoup” a sum estimated
to be at least £57m, that the decision to
detain Ibori was made.
The judge ruled: “In this case, the secretary of
state has been wrong-footed by the failure of
the prosecution to achieve determination of its
confiscation proceedings against Mr Ibori prior
to his release from prison on licence.”
Ibori, a former London DIY store cashier, was
jailed for fraud totalling nearly £50m in April
2012.
He evaded capture in Nigeria after a mob of
supporters attacked police, but was arrested in
Dubai in 2010 and extradited to the UK.


source:http://www.conscienceradio.net/london-court-awards-ibori-1-damages-unlawful-detention/

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just imagine what this oyibo dey do...

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