The former governor of Delta State, James Ibori, who was jailed in Britain for money laundering, has lost an appeal against his conviction in London yesterday.
Ibori filed an appeal against his conviction at the criminal division of the Court of Appeal in the United Kingdom. He alleged that the British prosecutors had covered up the corruption, tainting the judicial process.
According to Reuters, three senior Appeal Court judges said the bribery was not proven, and that if it had happened, Ibori himself had instigated it as the private detective was working for him.
“As Ibori was instrumental in the officer’s corruption, if there was corruption, he cannot even arguably, rely upon it to escape his convictions.
“Regardless of any disclosure, failures on the part of the Crown prosecutors, Ibori was thoroughly informed on this topic prior to his pleas of guilty,” the ruling said.
Ibori had pleaded guilty in a London court in 2012 to the 10-count of fraud and money laundering involving sums amounting to at least 50 million pounds ($66 million). He received a 13-year-jail sentence which he served half, as is common in the British system.
The ruling will allow British prosecutors to resume efforts to confiscate tens of millions of dollars worth of assets and return them to Nigeria’s public coffers. The assets have been frozen for years while the case has been dragging through the court.
In reaction to the ruling, Ibori accused the UK judiciary of being unfair to him and has instructed his lawyers to drag the UK to the Court of Appeal at the European Court of Human Rights.
This was contained in a statement signed by his media aide, Tony Eluemunor, yesterday. “At 11 am yesterday, the judgment of the Court of Appeal, Criminal Division, was handed down.
Once again, the British courts have unjustifiably denied me justice. The injustice contrived against me continued at the Court of Appeal. By this denial, I have been prevented from challenging my conviction, even though the Crown prosecution accepted the fact that there was a proven case of police corruption.
“The Court of Appeal declined my application for leave to appeal my conviction based on Crown prosecution (CPS) and police disclosure, compounded by police corruption unearthed way before I even arrived in the UK.
The allegation of police corruption, at least of Mr. John Macdonald, the Investigating Police Officer in my case, started on or about September 10, 2007, while I was still in Nigeria. This issue of police corruption was raised by a different agency of the UK government working on an entirely different case at the time.
“This material fact should have been disclosed to my legal team on my arrival in the UK, but it was not disclosed because the Crown Prosecution Service, and the London Metropolitan Police, knew the devastating and fatal impact that would have had on the case against me. The UK authorities chose deliberately to cover it up, even though my legal team asked that all-important question in open court.
“I have put my legal team on notice to explore every legal avenue to expose this massive cover-up, including applying to the European Court of Human Rights, to ensure that this assault on my fundamental rights does not stand.
“The British judiciary is supposed to rest on a strong foundation of openness, transparency and the rule of law. My legal team has done their best to draw attention to the issue of disclosure and the protocol associated with materials obtained through interception.
It is a short and simple case that does not require the length of time it has taken to adjudicate. It’s either my application for permission to appeal is granted, based on the fatal nature of the disclosure-failure, or a brutal assault on the integrity of British justice would be committed.
“The Crown Prosecution Service, the Metropolitan Police and the Department for Professional Standards, deliberately spat on the law, when they willfully disregarded the stipulations of the law governing the use of disclosures.
This flaw is unpardonable in the British legal system, even in serious cases like terrorism, much less fraud and money laundering, which prison terms have been served and expired. Well, today, a brutal assault was committed against the delivery of justice in the UK.
“Evidence exists, which confirms the police corruption in my case. The Court is of aware of it, and the prosecution is aware of it.
“The Court of Appeal did not permit my legal team to even refer to this evidence, let alone advancing it as part of our case.
Even now, I am not permitted to disclose the nature of this evidence for fear of committing an offense.
In these circumstances, my legal team argued that there were only two options available. It is either the prosecution concedes the appeal, or the court halts proceedings as an abuse of process because a fair hearing was no longer possible.”
