Posted by From OUR REPORTERS on
Trouble appears heightening for former Governor of Edo State, Chief Lucky Igbinedion as the London Metropolitan Police on Weddnesday conducted an extensive search of a home belonging to him in London.
Trouble appears heightening for former Governor of Edo State, Chief Lucky Igbinedion as the London Metropolitan Police on Weddnesday conducted an extensive search of a home belonging to him in London.
A report posted by Sahara reporters.com said Igbinedion's main London residence, located in the High Gate area of London - described as one of London's most expensive addresses - was subjected to what a source of the internet newswire within the Metropolitan Police described as a sweeping search.
According to the report, the early morning raid was conducted by crack anti-money laundering officers of the Metropolitan police. Igbinedion was said not to be in the home at the time of the search. The sources would not reveal if any documents were seized, but they told Sahara reporters correspondents that no arrests had so far been made. The sosurces were said to have added that the former governor would have been arrested if he had been in London at the time of their visit.
The EFCC had last week declared Igbinedion wanted after filing a 142-count charge and obtaining a bench warrant for his arrest from an Abuja Federal High Court presided over by Justice Binta Murtala Nyako.
Ther order, entitled 'Bench Warrant" empowered 'any police officer who sets his dor her eyes on the former governor to arrest him."
However, in his first response to the development, in a letter through his counsel, Alhaji Abdullahi Ibrahim (SAN) Igbinedion expressed shis dprepredness to appear before the commission on January 21 while insisting on his innocence of the allegations.
Though the whereabout of the former governor remains unknown, but Sahara reporters soasurces claim Igbidnedion has remained in France, where the EFCC has met limited cooperation and mutual assistance in pursuing Nigerian public officials wanted in connection with money laundering.
The Metropolitan Police said their investigation of Igbinedion's involvement in money laundering is ongoing. They said it was too early to disclose if they would apply to a court to order Igbinedion's assets frozen.
Last year, the British police convinced an appellate court to freeze more than 20 million pounds sterling in assets believed to be owned by former Governor James Ibori of Delta State. Ibori is currently remanded in Kaduna prison while he undergoes trial on multiple counts of money laundering and corruption.