FORMER Delta State governor, Chief James Ibori, has denied that he pleaded guilty to alleged corruption charges at a London Court, last Monday.

Chief Ibori, while reacting to reports widely reported in the media on Tuesday, said he never pleaded guilty to corruption charges as they had been withdrawn by the prosecution because they could not be proved.

He said what he pleaded guilty were charges of money laundering, adding that “all corruption charges were dropped by the London police for lack of evidence.”

Speaking through Mr Tony Eluemunor, his media assistant, Chief Ibori maintained that he did not plead guilty to corruption charges which were removed, because they could not be proved beyond any reasonable doubt, adding that the police stayed with money laundering charges to be proved by nothing but inference.

Chief Ibori advised Nigerians not to be misled by the news reports of the Monday court session which, he said, were trusted to insane levels by media manipulation and misinformation.

http://www.tribune.com.ng/index.php/news/36868-i-did-not-plead-guilty-ibori

Charges of corruption were dropped but he was found guilty of money laundering? I guess my question here would be did the Nigerian Government at least help the UK police with evidence necessary to fully prosecute him in this? Seeing that the government has admitted to failing for over 5 years to bring the man to book,one would expect that the government would do all it can to make sure this time the man gets to pay for all his crimes.

We know the difference.
Next time be as smart as TINUBU. . .
Stay in Nigeria and fight with your loot!

Ho ha!

So whose money did u launder is it your money?

The man had money before he became governor, he can launder his money. He gave UPU 500,000,000 cash when he wanted to become governor. If it were in UK he would have been arrested for money laundering. If they could not prove any case of corruption against him then the man is free like other 35 governors who ruled the same period with him.

kpogede77:

The man had money before he became governor, he can launder his money. He gave UPU 500,000,000 cash when he wanted to become governor. If it were in UK he would have been arrested for money laundering. If they could not prove any case of corruption against him then the man is free like other 35 governors who ruled the same period with him.

He had mone from where? Somebody that has been thieving from his mothers womb.

No comment

evil666:

FORMER Delta State governor, Chief James Ibori, has denied that he pleaded guilty to alleged corruption charges at a London Court, last Monday.

Chief Ibori, while reacting to reports widely reported in the media on Tuesday, said he never pleaded guilty to corruption charges as they had been withdrawn by the prosecution because they could not be proved.

He said what he pleaded guilty were charges of money laundering, adding that “all corruption charges were dropped by the London police for lack of evidence.”

Speaking through Mr Tony Eluemunor, his media assistant, Chief Ibori maintained that he did not plead guilty to corruption charges which were removed, because they could not be proved beyond any reasonable doubt, adding that the police stayed with money laundering charges to be proved by nothing but inference.

Chief Ibori advised Nigerians not to be misled by the news reports of the Monday court session which, he said, were trusted to insane levels by media manipulation and misinformation.

http://www.tribune.com.ng/index.php/news/36868-i-did-not-plead-guilty-ibori

Is he sick or something, laundered money while in a public post and you say corruption charges were dropped? This guy is so sick.

What is money laundering what is corruption. The money you laundered was traced to the government's account and was against the law in UK. I know someday someone will say i was only guilty of bribe not corruption. Useless fellow.
You are called a thief, you said you are just playing with this goat.

, What an incoherent and shameful line of defence? Assuming Ibori is even sincere by that utterance, is money laundering not a component of corruption? Let alone he is insincere as he was also found to have stolen credit card, allowed his wife to purchase without payment, changed his DOB to cover his tracks etcetera.

Technically he cannot be tried on corruption charges in UK because the crime was not commited in UK. He can only be tried for corruption in Nigeria.

kpogede77:

The man had money before he became governor, he can launder his money. He gave UPU 500,000,000 cash when he wanted to become governor. If it were in UK he would have been arrested for money laundering. If they could not prove any case of corruption against him then the man is free like other 35 governors who ruled the same period with him.

What are primary 4 students doing on this forum? go and wait until u r 18 b4 u can start chatting with your elders

Money Laundering = Corruption naq,

Abi 'em dey craze niii

smh :-x :-x

felifeli:

Technically he cannot be tried on corruption charges in UK because the crime was not commited in UK. He can only be tried for corruption in Nigeria.

Gbam!Well Said.
Who b mumu,money was stolen in Nigeria not UK,it was only laundered there.
How did this silly post make front page?
SEEEEUUUUUNNNNN!!!!!

@Gbame : Your question is apt and to the point. No one is prosecuted for acquiring his wealth legally. Only illegally acquired money from corruption, drug trafficking, robbery, kidnapping, terrorism and other outlawed businesses can be laundered to make them have the semblance of legality. It is this class of illegal wealth and money that can be prosecuted as money laundering. So, if Ibori and people like him are prosecuted and convicted, it is an indirect way of proving they got their wealth illegally and most likely from government. Pleading guilty to money laundering charges is an indirect way of pleading guilty to corruption charges. QED.

What is the difference? The money he laundered cam from corruption. A thief has no justification for what he did. i am very much sorry for this stupid country because among the whole number of these thieves only one was caught. He was even caught and seriously trialed and caught guilty by foreign country.

If the prosecutor does not have evidence to prove the laundered funds are proceeds of corruption, then to what extent can the money laundering charge itself stick? This whole legal rigmarole is confusing. The only basis for convicting someone of money laundering is if evidence exists to prove that the laundered funds are proceeds of crime/corruption. It is not enough that a person can't explain how he came about $100m in cash and assets. The prosecutor must prove that such money came from corrupt/criminal acts. It is not mandatory for the accused to explain how he came about the funds; rather the onus is on the prosecutor to prove that the accused acquired the funds through criminal activities. The mere possession of suspicious funds in itself is not enough to prove money laundering. At best it'll become a matter of tax evasion and whatnot.
So if Ibori has pleaded guilty to money laundering, it effectively means that he has admitted obtaining such laundered money through corruption. As such, this attempt to demarcate between a guilty plea for money laundering and a guilty plea for corruption is therefore very strange to say the least. Unless his lawyers have a legal trick or two up their sleeves.

money laundering is the act of hiding ur trying to hide money obtained from corruption. so if u admit to money laundering, that means u are guilty of corruption.

This man is a FOOL!! so money laundering is a good thing??

Abeg fade jare !!

Was this m.oron dropped on his head as a baby? Yeah right, like money laundering is not a subset of corruption. Does the crook care to tell us how he made all this money that for some reason needed to be laundered. I wonder how the foolish spokesman managed to keep a straight face whilst spewing his paymaster's childish lies. The shameless thie.f is lucky he'll serve time in the U.K, he may only serve about 2.5 yrs of a 10 year jailterm. if na U.S now, that would have been some real time. Bloody thie.f!

But he ran from 9ja to Dubai and fought extradition to UK and , he is not corrupt! Ogidigboigbo, wetin you dey talk sef! No talk too much put yourself for more trouble oh! You are dealing with British people oh, they understand the english language pass you sef! Shine your eyes,

mes Ibori, a former governor of one of Nigeria's oil-producing states, has pleaded guilty in a UK court to 10 counts of money-laundering and conspiracy to defraud.

British police accuse him of stealing $250m (£160m) over eight years.

The prosecutor called him a "thief in government house".

Ibori, once seen as one of Nigeria's wealthiest and most influential politicians, was arrested in 2010 in Dubai and then extradited to London.

Some $35m of his alleged UK assets were frozen in 2007.

As his trial at London's Southwark Crown Court was about to begin, Mr Ibori changed his plea to guilty and admitted stealing money from Delta state and laundering it in London through a number of offshore companies.
I REST MY CASE

My people said and i quote "Ki lon dun ninu olomo lanke ton sare wo corner" literally what is the joy of a wheel barrow owner. Money laundering and corruption are of the same parent. He should cover his face and keep shut

this shameless man is still talking for him to say this i guess that its a normal thing amongst Nigeria's politicians to steal and laundering-money

IBORI: I am a thief sha o, but I didn't plead guilty. Shameless mudaphuka!

He sounds like a Captain trying to save a sinking ship.

As Mark Twain said “Better to remain silent and be thought a fool, than to speak out and remove all doubt”.

It’s sad, the type of leaders we seem to have.

Corrupt or not, you're a thief, Ibori. Heck you admitted as much, so STFU! The sad thing is that ordinary Nigerians will still queue up to vote swine like you into power, so it ain't your fault, really. Worthless piece of waste!

he for say that for oshodi market whether de no go burn him alive

Dude, they r same thing, Someone lock this man up already.

So the thief still has mouth to talk.wait for April 17th my friend

Please, u guys should not logic this issue too much to avoid confusion. I know there are pro-james ibori on this site who are trying to confuse and convince others into believing in their trash. All i know is that ibori stole Delta state money and i believe the reason why the one hundred and sth count charges leveled against were cleared in a court in Delta is cos Gov. Uduaghan was the S.S.G during ibori's administration. So Gov Uduaghan use to be james boy and he still sympathise with him. Ibori stole money and that's the fact, let's not get it twisted.