AFTER years of running, the long hands
of justice caught up with the former
governor of Delta State, James Onanefe
Ibori, on Tuesday.
The Southwark Crown Court in London
United Kingdom sentenced Ibori to 13
years’ imprisonment for fraud and
corruption offences.
Our correspondent reports that Ibori
may only spend about five years in
prison because he has been in custody
for two years and will be eligible for
parole in about four years.He will likely serve his term in
Wandsworth, Prison. Wandsworth is the
largest prison in the UK, currently able
to hold 1,665 prisoners. It is also where
Ibori was held while undergoing trial. His
jailed lawyer, Bhadresh Gohil, is also
serving his term in Wandsworth Prison.
After the sentencing, British judicial and
security officials said they would soon
commence confiscation proceedings to
ensure that his stolen assets reverted to
Delta State.
THE PUNCH learnt that the Crown
Prosecution Service would soon launch a
bid to seize Ibori’s stolen assets and
return them to Delta State.
An official of the CPS told journalists
that the service would bid to confiscate
the assets Ibori had stolen and return
them to the state.One of the investigators, Detective
Inspector Paul Whitmore, said it was
estimated that Ibori stole around $250m
from Delta State.
“The sum can only be described as huge.
Vast sums of money which were used to
fund his lavish lifestyle. The real harm
in this case is the potential loss to people
in some of the poorest regions in the
world,” he said.
Whitmore said a confiscation proceeding
would be launched to ensure that as
much of the money as possible was
returned to the state government.Some of the assets that might be confiscated are a house in Hampstead, North London, worth £2.2m; a property in Shaftesbury, Dorset, worth £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; and a Mercedes Maybach worth 407,000 Euros

the deltans are better off initiating a project in conjunction with a british firm that will assist it and
request that the money should be used to fund it.
if not, that money will be back in europe