Nigerian politician owns up to corruption
London, 28 Feb – (ANA) - The former governor of a Nigerian oil state pleaded guilty in a British court yesterday to laundering millions of dollars in a rare case of a Nigerian politician being held to account for the corruption that blights Africa's most populous nation. London hailed the case of James Ibori, a prominent power-broker in Nigeria's ruling party, as a major victory in the British justice system's efforts to stop corrupt foreign politicians laundering stolen funds via UK channels. Ibori is a household name in Nigeria after two terms as governor of impoverished oil-producing Delta State from 1999 to 2007. He is used to being addressed as "Your Excellency" and courted by crowds of people seeking his patronage. It was a different scene on Monday at Southwark Crown Court in London, where Ibori sat in the dock behind a glass partition as prosecutor Sasha Wass described his tenure as a time of "wide-scale theft, fraud and corruption". "There was effectively a thief in the government office of Delta State," Wass told the court. Ibori pleaded guilty to 10 counts of money laundering, fraud and related offences. He pleaded not guilty to a further 13 similar charges. Sentencing will take place in April and Ibori remains in custody. His assets will be confiscated. Among other crimes, Ibori admitted that he had conspired with others to pocket $37 million that should have gone into Delta State coffers from the sale of shares it owned in the telecoms company V Mobile. Britain's Department for International Development (DFID) said all funds recovered through the confiscation of Ibori's assets would be given back to the people of Delta. "Ibori ... lived a life of luxury after he embezzled what the (police) estimate to be $250 million of Nigerian public funds - equal to $38 from every person living in the state at the time of his crimes," the department said after the court hearing. At the time of his arrest, he had been trying to buy himself a private jet worth $20 million. His case has enormous resonance in Nigeria, Africa's biggest oil producer, where a small ruling class enjoys a jet-setting lifestyle while most of the 140 million Nigerians live in poverty with little or no access to power, health or education. Ibori stepped down as governor of Delta, one of three big oil-producing states in the volatile region, after two terms because the law did not allow him to seek a third one. He then established himself as a behind-the-scenes kingmaker in the ruling People's Democratic Party. (ANA)
FA/ANA/28 February 2012--------