Posted by By Semiu Okanlawon, Oscarline Onwuemenyi and Olalekan Adetayo on
A final reprieve may not have come the way of the former Governor of Delta State, Mr. James Ibori, as the British Police on Tuesday said investigation into the case of corrupt enrichment against him continues.
A final reprieve may not have come the way of the former Governor of Delta State, Mr. James Ibori, as the British Police on Tuesday said investigation into the case of corrupt enrichment against him continues.
The Press Bureau of the Metropolitan Police said in a response to an enquiry by our correspondents that the vacation of an earlier order by a London court freezing Iboris assets was not an indication that the matter had ended.
It said, "An application of restraint was heard on August 2, 2007 at the Southwark Crown Court in relation to worldwide assets worth $35m belonging to Ibori.
"The application was successful and made under the Proceeds of Crime Act. It related to business and private finances. The application was reviewed at a further hearing on Monday, October 1, 2007 at the court and the restraint was discharged.
"The investigation by Met. Police Proceeds of Corruption Unit continues."
The court had also discharged the order preventing Erin Aviation and others from having access to the assets.
It consequently directed the Crown Prosecution Service, which brought the application for restraint, to pay all the costs incurred by Ibori and others in the course of the matter.
Reports had it that a letter from the Federal Government on August 7 to Iboris counsel swayed the judge, Mr. Goymer, in passing his judgement.
The letter was said to have claimed that the former governor had no case to answer. Iboris counsel allegedly tendered the letter to support their defence.
When contacted, the Attorney-General of the Federation, Mr. Michael Aondoakaa (SAN), denied knowledge of any letter from the Federal Government that allegedly paved the way for the reprieve given to Ibori by the London court.
He said, I did not write any letter to the Crown Court. That was not the basis the case was dismissed. The evidence before him (the judge) was not sufficient. What has the AGF got to do with it?"
Aondoakaa said he could not have written the letter since his office was not the one that froze the ex-governors assets.
He threatened to seek redress in the court if his name was mentioned as the author of the letter.
Another version of how Ibori was set free alleged that it was due to poor bureaucratic collaboration between the office of the AGF and the Met Police.
A source said, You know that since May, the Met Police had been relating with the Federal Government in respect of certain documents needed to prosecute Ibori.
When the AGF came on board, the Met Police renewed its collaborative overtures with his office. They actually brought a leter to the AGF in August but it was a photocopy. The AGF insisted on a clean and signed copy.
The refusal of the AGF to accept the letter led to the coming of a team from the Met Police on September 13 for a follow-up discussion. But the police team claimed to have met a brickwall. Aondoakaa, however, said the detectives were well received. He also said that they exchanged complimentary cards with him.
Based on the alleged poor reception, the Met Police wrote a fresh letter to the AGF on September 20, demanding some statements made by a few witnesses against Ibori. The London police asked the AGF to direct the EFCC to release the said documents for presentation at the resumption of the trial of Ibori on October 1.
But the AGF did not write the EFCC until Friday, September 28. As at the time the ruling was delivered on Monday, the anti-graft commission had not received the AGFs letter."
Aondoakaa, however, denied any sloppiness from his office on Iboris case.
In an interview with one of our correspondents on the telephone on Tuesday, he said, I was in New York with the President when they dropped the letter on September 20
I left Nigeria on a British Airways flight at about 7am on September 20 but the Met Police letter was delivered to my office around 5pm on the same day.
I returned to the country on September 28 and I headed for my office at 7am to attend to the letter.
I have never done anything to frustrate the EFCC on any matter. Dont forget that the commission had told the Nigerian media that it was not involved in Iboris case in London. Why are they now talking of frustration? Why are they dragging me into an issue that I did not know anything about?
I dont have anything against Ribadu. If the man is your friend and you want to help him, you should find a better way of helping him. This thing is becoming personal.
I had never sent one lawyer from here to London on Iboris case. If the Met Police are not satisfied with the acquittal of Ibori, cant they appeal? After all the court that set Ibori free is a crown court, the equivalent of a magistrates court in Nigeria. The Met Police can go to a High Court and an Appeal Court in Britain."
But a top official of the EFCC said on Tuesday that the London courts verdict would not interfere with the ongoing investigations of the former governor.
The source said that its investigations into the alleged corrupt practices by Ibori had reached a stage that he might be arrested whenever he returned to the country.