A Former Governor of An Oil Rich Nigerian State Netted More Than 50 Million In
Category: Africa Written by Nehm Chiko - Africa Editor
A former governor of an oil-rich Nigerian state was part of a scam which plundered £157million from some of the poorest people in the world. James Ibori personally pocketed £50million which he splashed on a life of luxury including his own private jet. Ibori, 49, an ex-governor of Delta State with presidential aspirations, stole public funds for a 'lavish and expensive lifestyle'. His spending included a portfolio of luxury houses, a £12.6million private jet, a fleet of top-of-the-range cars, top UK boarding school places for his children, first-class travel and posh hotels. As his people struggled in poverty, Ibori’s monthly credit card bills alone topped £125,000.
It is estimated that the embezzlement from the Delta state is yet unquantified, but could exceed £157million which was laundered in London through a number of off-shore companies. The case at Southwark Crown Court was delayed this morning after a ruckus broke out in the corridor and police had to be called in to control crowds of his supporters. Prosecutor Sasha Wass was thrown to the floor as supporters tried to rush into the tiny courtroom. She told the hearing: 'The defendant was governor of the Delta State, one of the richest oil producing states in Nigeria, between November 1999 and May 2007. 'It is the prosecution case that during his two terms in office he deliberately and systematically defrauded the people whose interests he had been elected to represent he went on to launder the money he stole in this country.' He inflated state contracts, took kickbacks, and through bent employees stole cash straight from the State accounts and secreted the cash into off-shore accounts across the globe. Instead of using the money to help his people, he bought a £2.2 mansion in Hampstead with cash, a house in Regents Park, a flat in St John's Wood, a £311,000 home in Dorset and a £3.2million mansion in Johannesburg, as well as a house in Houston.
His 'greed and acquisitiveness' was also represented by his fleet of armoured Range Rovers worth £600,000, a £120,000 Bentley, a Jaguar for his Hampstead home and a Mercedes Maybach bought for 407,000 Euros that was shipped direct to his mansion in South Africa, Ms Wass said.
At an earlier hearing, Ibori pleaded guilty to ten offences - eight of money laundering, one of conspiracy to defraud Delta State and one of conspiracy to forge. Nigerian-born Ibori moved to the UK in the 1980s where he married his wife, Theresa, and worked as a cashier at Wickes in Ruislip, Middlesex, earning around £15,000 a year before the couple were arrested for theft from the store in 1990 and fined £300. A year later, he had another brush with the law when he was convicted of handling a stolen credit card and fined £100 before he moved back to his homeland and started as a ‘policy consultant’ for President Sani Abacha’s regime before climbing the ladder of the ruling People’s Democratic Party. After lying to the independent Nigerian Election Commission by using a fake date of birth gained through a false passport to hide his previous convictions and financial status, Ibori was elected as state governor for Delta State from 1999 - giving him immunity from prosecution for his two terms until 2007.
Ms Wass described it as 'planned fraud'. She said: 'He didn’t accidentally become involved in a pre-existing corruption; he changed his date of birth in 1996. 'From the moment he was elected, he set out enriching himself at the expense of some of the poorest people in the world. 'His greed increased exponentially during the course of his governorship as did his arrogance.' It was heard that he tried to pay a $15m bribe to a government official to make the corruption investigation 'go away'. Even after he began to be investigated in 2005, Ibori involved himself in another 'massive fraud' and tried to bribe Nigerian officials, interfere with the trial and impugn the integrity of the officers. He was helped by family members, including his wife, sister Christine Ibori-Ibie, his mistress Udoamaka Oniugbo, and a series of corrupt professionals - a London-based lawyer, Bhadresh Gohil, who acted as his banker and set up a myriad of off-shore companies, a fiduciary agent, Daniel Benedict McCann, a corporate financier, Lambertus De Boer - who have all been jailed for a total of 30 years.
His fraud unravelled when the UK’s Metropolitan police raided the office of 'trusted servant' Gohil, 47, who has since been jailed for 10 years, and found hard drives containing detailed records hidden in the wall behind a fire place. A series of trials have taken place leading to six convictions and sentences totalling 30 years but Ibori has made a number of attempts to disrupt the course of justice, Ms Wass said. When he was arrested in Nigeria in 2007, the High Court froze assets worth £35million despite him only earning around £4,000 a year. A court later dismissed the charges and he fled to Dubai where he was arrested by UK police. He was trying to purchase a $20million jet when he was arrested.
Ibori, wearing a dark suit and glasses, is represented by two QCs during his sentencing hearing which is expected to last two days.
Last Updated on Wednesday, 18 April 2012 19:45
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A UK Cop That Racially Abused A Black Man Will Now Be Charged
Category: UK & Europe Written by Super User
UK London- A UK’s Metropolitan police officer is to be charged with racially abusing a suspect during the summer riots that rocked UK last year, prosecutors said today. There is now 'sufficient evidence for a realistic prospect of conviction' of Pc Alex MacFarlane, a Crown Prosecution Service review concluded. Lawyers studied footage appearing to show an officer say to a 21-year-old black man: 'The problem with you is you will always be a n*****, yeah?'. The CPS announcement came as the police watchdog announced a review of a string of complaints about racism at the Metropolitan Police, warning of the risks of 'much wider disaffection and dissatisfaction' with the force. There are now 11 separate allegations under investigation, involving 10 police officers.
Alison Saunders, chief prosecutor for London, said she had advised the Independent Police Complaints Commission to charge Pc MacFarlane a u-turn on the part of the Crown Prosecution Service having taken a decision not to charge him in January of this year. After the complainant’s lawyers had threatened to take CPS to court challenging the decision and in accordance with standard CPS practice, Grace Ononiwu, Deputy Chief Crown Prosecutor for CPS London, directed that the case be reviewed by a more senior lawyer who was not previously involved. That review is now complete and the conclusion, based on all the evidence now available, is that there is sufficient evidence for a realistic prospect of conviction to charge PC MacFarlane with a racially aggravated public order offence contrary to Section 4a of the Public Order Act 1986 and Section 31 of the Crime and Disorder Act 1998.'When a review shows a previous decision not to prosecute is wrong, it is open to the CPS to rectify that error by bringing new proceedings.'
Ms Saunders said the original CPS decision was 'regrettable', adding that a prosecution was necessary to maintain public confidence. Pc MacFarlane was suspended from his duties following a review of the mobile phone footage. The arrested man, named as Mauro Demetrio, 21, from Beckton, East of London, was held on suspicion of drug-driving in August last year but no action was later taken. The charging announcement came as UK’s Metropolitan Commissioner Bernard-Hogan Howe appeared before UK’s Members of Parliament over the force's review of racist allegations. Ms Saunders said: 'As Chief Crown Prosecutor for London, I have taken the decision in this case that, as well as there being sufficient evidence for a realistic prospect of conviction, and a prosecution being in the public interest, a prosecution is necessary in order to maintain confidence in the criminal justice system. 'That is the test I must apply under the Code for Crown Prosecutors when reinstituting a prosecution. 'Accordingly, I have advised the Independent Police Complaints Commission to charge Pc MacFarlane. 'It is regrettable that the original decision was wrong, but I hope the action taken and my decision today demonstrates the willingness of the CPS to review its decisions independently and swiftly and to take appropriate action where necessary.'
An additional charge of assault relating to an allegation of 'strangulation' will not be pursued, the CPS said. Ms Saunders added: 'However, having now had opportunity to consider all available evidence, including the statements of others in the van alongside the recording, the lawyer reviewing the case concluded that the inconsistencies in the various accounts of what happened were such that no additional charge could properly be added. 'The inconsistencies included a dispute over the identity of the officer who took hold of the complainant - the complainant said that this was one officer but all other witnesses dispute this. 'There is also inconsistency over why the officer, who does accept that he took hold of the complaint, did so. He and other witnesses say it was in response to the complainant's apparent aggression and in self-defence. 'I agree with the conclusion that, in the circumstances, there is insufficient evidence to meet the Code test for bringing charges.'
Another allegation of abuse by a police officer against a youth at Forest Gate police station remains under consideration, the CPS said.
Last Updated on Wednesday, 18 April 2012 16:35
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Zimmerman Released From Florida Jail
Parent Category: Special Reports Category: Trayvon Martin Case Written by Ken Bhiza
USA - Florida, In an unusually low-key turn to a high-profile case, George Zimmerman was released without incident from a Florida county jail on $150,000 bail as he awaits his second-degree murder trial for fatally shooting Trayvon Martin. The neighbourhood watch volunteer was wearing a brown jacket and blue jeans and carrying a paper bag around midnight Sunday. He walked out following another man and didn't look over at photographers gathered outside. He then followed the man into a white BMW vehicle and drove away.
Moments before, two Seminole County sheriff's vehicles blocked access to the intake building parking lot where Zimmerman was being released. Zimmerman emerged after two public information officers confirmed the credentials of the photographers outside. No questions were shouted at Zimmerman, and he gave no statement. His ultimate destination is being kept secret for his safety and it could be outside Florida. Circuit Judge Kenneth Lester said at a hearing Friday that Zimmerman cannot have any guns and must observe a 7 p.m.-to-6 a.m. curfew. Zimmerman also surrendered his passport. Zimmerman had to put up 10 percent, or $15,000, to make bail. His father had indicated he might take out a second mortgage.
Zimmerman worked at a mortgage risk-management company at the time of the shooting and his wife is in nursing school. A website was set up to collect donations for Zimmerman's defense fund. It is unclear how much has been raised. Bail is not unheard of in second-degree murder cases, and legal experts had predicted it would be granted for Zimmerman because of his ties to the community, because he turned himself in after he was charged last week, and because he has never been convicted of a serious crime.
Prosecutors had asked for $1 million bail, citing two previous scrapes Zimmerman had with the law, neither of which resulted in charges. In 2005, he had to take anger management courses after he was accused of attacking an undercover officer who was trying to arrest Zimmerman's friend. In another incident, a girlfriend accused him of attacking her. Zimmerman, 28, fatally shot Martin, 17, Feb. 26 inside the gated community where Zimmerman lived during an altercation. Martin was unarmed and was walking back to the home of his father's fiance when Zimmerman saw him, called 911 and began following him. A fight broke out — investigators say it is unknown who started it.
Zimmerman says Martin, who was visiting from Miami, attacked him. Zimmerman says he shot Martin in self-defense, citing Florida's "stand your ground" law, which gives broad legal protection to anyone who says they used deadly force because they feared death or great bodily harm. Zimmerman was not charged for over six weeks, sparking national protests led by Martin's parents, civil rights groups and the Revs. Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton. Martin was black; Zimmerman's father is white and his mother is from Peru.
On Friday, a Florida judge agreed to let Zimmerman out on $150,000 bail. Defense attorney Mark O'Mara has said there are several options for where Zimmerman should go, but would not disclose any of them. Lester on Friday indicated Zimmerman would be allowed to leave the state if arrangements with law enforcement could be made for him to be monitored. He will be fitted with an electronic device.
About a half-dozen photographers and cameramen camped outside the Sanford jail Sunday, focused on the door marked "Bonds Rooms," where other people who had been arrested and released on bail exited. Zimmerman had entered the jail about a week earlier after more than a month of nationwide protests calling for his arrest.
Meanwhile, Martin's parents published a "Card of Thanks" in The Miami Herald obituary page Sunday. The note says Sybrina Fulton and Tracy Martin express their appreciation for all the public's support since their son's death. The notice includes a photograph of Trayvon Martin dressed in a hooded sweatshirt, similar to one he was wearing the evening he was killed.
"Words will never express how your love, support and prayers lifted our spirits and continue to give us the strength to march on," the letter says.
Last Updated on Monday, 23 April 2012 21:33
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