British Prosecutor Admits Lying Against Ibori's Associate
By Wole Olujobi, Deputy News Editor


Hearing in the case of Udoamaka Okoronkwo, an associate of former Delta State Governor, James Ibori, continued in a London court on Wednesday.

It was all in respect of the British Police refusing consent for Okoronkwo to return to Nigeria to face the charge against her.

Her defence counsel, Tim Owen, said the police orchestrated and manipulated the circumstances thereby preventing her proper defence in Nigeria where she allegedly committed an offence.

Investigating Police Officer, DC Macdonald, had admitted that he had not told the entire truth when he applied for the European Arrest Warrant for Okoronkwo.

Owen said "the prosecution had acted without candour. There is no honesty or truthfulness".

Before now, Okoronkwo's defence had consistently asked for some very important pieces of documents, which have now mysteriously disappeared . The court heard that the documents have simply "gone missing" from the police files, a disclosure that astonished the court.

Frustrated at prosecution's failure to deal with matters in good faith, defence counsel, Andrew Trollope, openly accused the Crown of playing "fast and loose".

John Binns, former lawyer to Okoronkwo, gave evidence as to how Macdonald had duped him into believing his client was not wanted in the UK. Macdonald had sent letters, which Binns denied ever receiving.

The need to cross-examine MacDonald became necessary because he had misled the UK courts many times in the past.

He had sworn many inconsistent witness statements where such testimonies were used to obtain court orders.

In the instant case, he failed to admit that he had not notified Okoronkwo's legal team that he had varied bail, not told the Judge that the Attorney General of Nigeria had refused consent and most of all had not brought the facts to the attention of the French courts.

Macdonald, under cross-examination by Owen, acknowledge that he had not told the entire truth when he applied for the arrest warrant for Okoronkwo and missed out crucial aspects that should have been brought to the court's attention; otherwise the warrant would have been granted.

He also admitted that he made mockery of Ms Wass, who had earlier cross examined Binns and tried to imply that Okoronkwo's defence team were negligent, which the police officer later contradicted. This led to Wass having to apologise to the court.

He openly shifted the blame onto David Williams, the Crown prosecutor, saying the CPS had done the drafting of the arrest warrant, while he could also not explain why another police officer's record contradicted his.

He also admitted that the relationship with Nigeria's Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) had broken down after Nuhu Ribadu left the commission.

He denied "hoodwinking" and "deceiving" the court, but now appreciates that he could have at least told the truth, which he very much regrets.

Macdonald's actions may now be referred to Crown Prosecution Service to consider whether charges of perverting the course of justice and perjury may be brought against him.

Trollope now seems very much in control of the court after the exposure of Macdonald's lies, as he raised serious complaints with the judge: "These are utterly inadequate explanations. The prosecution needs to produce proper material, we will not accept superficial responses from Ms Wass"

Defence lawyers, happy with the day's proceedings, said what is now becoming clearer and clearer is that there is no case to answer in London.

This man called Ibori, na James Bond of Africa.

By the way, is it that we now have Nigerians in Scotland yard?. How can a whole vital case file just develop wings and disappear!.

We are still watching and waiting.

I will not be surprised, if Ibori wins in London. Afterall, there are White Nigerian Police men in Scotland Yard, who can steal case files, and kill cases.