The Daily Mail of London exposes the massive wealth of former governor of Delta State, James Ibori, who pleaded guilty to a 10-count charge of money laundering and conspiracy yesterday before a Southwark Crown Court in London.

His rise from DIY store worker to international playboy with a £250 million fortune is the stuff of dreams.

A few years after quitting his £5,000-a-year job as a cashier for Wickes, James Ibori had become one of Nigeria’s most influential and richest politicians.

He wasted no time spending his new-found wealth on luxury homes, top-of-the-range cars, five-star travel and fees at exclusive boarding schools.

But yesterday the 49-year-old stood shame-faced in the dock of London’s Southwark Court as he admitted stealing tens of millions of pounds from the oil-rich state he governed in Nigeria. Scotland Yard detectives believe his fraud could exceed £250million.

He was on trial in the UK because much of the stolen money was laundered through his London office.

Ibori moved from Nigeria to West London in the late 1980s and was found guilty of stealing goods from the Wickes store he worked at in Ruislip in 1990.

A year later he was convicted of handling a stolen credit card. He moved back to Nigeria and worked for its president, Sani Abacha, as a policy consultant.

Rising quickly through the ranks of the ruling People’s Democratic Party, he was voted governor of Delta State in 1999, winning re-election four years later.

In power, he systematically stole from the public purse, taking kickbacks and transferring state funds to his own bank accounts around the world.

He was helped by family members, including his wife Theresa, sister Christine Ibori-Ibie, his mistress Udoamaka Oniugbo, and Mayfair lawyer Bhadresh Gohil.

A massive police investigation into Ibori’s activities revealed he had bought six properties in London, including a six-bedroom house with indoor pool in Hampstead for £2.2million and a flat opposite the nearby Abbey Road recording studios.

There was also a property in Dorset, a £3.2million mansion in South Africa and further real estate in Nigeria.

He owned a fleet of armoured Range Rovers costing £600,000 and a £120,000 Bentley. On one of his trips to London he bought a Mercedes Maybach for more than £300,000 at a dealer on Park Lane and immediately shipped it to South Africa.

He bought a private jet for £12 million, spent £126,000 a month on his credit cards and ran up a £15,000 bill for a two-day stay at the Lanesborough hotel in London.

Prosecutor Sasha Wass told the court Ibori concealed his UK criminal record, which would have excluded him from office in Nigeria.

“He was never the legitimate governor and there was effectively a thief in government house,” Miss Wass said. “As the pretender of that public office, he was able to plunder Delta State’s wealth and hand out patronage.”

The court heard Ibori abused his position to award contracts to his associates including his sister and his mistress.

Scotland Yard began its investigation into Ibori after officers found two computer hard drives in his London office that revealed his criminality.

He was arrested by the Nigerian Economic and Financial Crimes Commission in December 2007, but two years later a court in his home town, Asaba, dismissed the charges saying there was not enough evidence.

When the case was reopened by Nigerian authorities in April 2010, Ibori fled to Dubai where he was detained at the request of the Metropolitan Police and extradited to the UK last April.

In a packed courtroom Ibori, dressed in a dark grey suit and black shirt, appeared in the dock to enter ten guilty pleas to fraud, money laundering and conspiracy on what was due to be the first day of a 12-week trial.

His wife, his mistress and his sister were all jailed for five years each for money laundering offences following earlier trials.

Last March, Gohil, 46, and described as Ibori’s London-based lawyer, was jailed for seven years for his role in the scam.

Attempts will be made to confiscate as much of Ibori’s money and assets as possible so that they can be returned to Nigeria.

The Met’s Detective Inspector Paul Whatmore said: “It is always rewarding for anyone working on a proceeds of corruption case to know that the stolen funds they identify will eventually be returned to some of the poorest and most vulnerable people in the world.”

Ibori will be sentenced on April 16 and 17.

•Culled from the DailyMail

http://trends.com.ng/2012/02/looted-wealth-james-ibori/

Ibori Himself!!

Abuja House

Appartment Flat in Abbey Road London

Exclusive House in North London Worth 2.2Million Pounds

Kenton North West London House

One of the Lagos Houses worth N80M

Bentley Continental

Bullet Proof Range Rover

Hustler's ambition

Nigeria's very own 50cent

Thirty years ago, Fela Kuti called them "Vagabonds in Power", yesterday, a British solicitor called him (them) "A thief in government house". This is the third governor who would be caught as a thief in the UK, after Alams and Dariye. This is a huge, huge shame for Nigeria.
It is high time for all well-meaning Nigerians to demand for a total obliteration of the immunity clause from our constitutio, n, for it has only become a protection for looters to unleash brigandage on our treasury.

This just brightens my day

I have a gut feeling GEJ is going to meet the same fate later somehow

Shame on the Nigerian judiciary system

An the biggest shame is not Ibori believe it or not, BUT the Nigerian government that was unable and unwilling to persecute him whilst a foreign l and is doing so. You know there is a saying, if you mama say you wowo, name me go tell you say you fine. A real pity SMH.

diluminati:

This just brightens my day

I have a gut feeling GEJ is going to meet the same fate later somehow

All of them , I mean all of them will eventually suffer the same fate.

A thief in the government house, God save this country.

feelamong:

Exclusive House in North London Worth 2.2Million Pounds

I dont mind this, sell it to me

what is so surprising about Ibori's loot, ho among his colleagues didn't loot. is it Igbinedion or Odili; lets not talk about Bayelsa state.

Breath takin! Just imagine!!!!!!!!!!!!! Kai dis pipo worst pass devil oooooo

Seriosli what does IBORI need all these things for, Excess wealth have made him look like a abaya

abeg this man na the ORIGINAL ANINI!

Efizzi:

Seriosli what does IBORI need all these things for,  Excess wealth have made him look like a abaya

Not only Ibori ask Nigeria Politicians in general and Nigeria Pastors.

Okay oooo!

Nawao. It has been in his blood, since 80s. But I feel for him o, chai.

I thought he was a smart man. Why loot your country and pour the money outside your country. He wasnt of the RobinHood mindset, no wonder he ran abroad when heat.

If he was in Nigeria, he would have claimed illness and served his time at a suite in Sheraton. lets see how he wrigles his way out of the arm of BRITISH JUSTICE.

Kia british media don blow ibori yansh open.

The next phase of action against the govt of this nation will be brutal, it will be fight to finish. They have destroy a lot of things in this country, they have stole money their 5th, 6th generation will spend when they are gone. what kind of country is this.

These are the people given first class treatment in churches and mosques.
They receive pastors/imams prayers day and night. But guess what! My God is
not mocked.

na wa for naija ooo, i never see country like this before

hahahahahahahaha

This is not enough o. all this revelation aint taking us anywhere unless
he is forced or convinced to return the looted funds to the naija govt.!