Posted by By DANIEL BALINT-KURTI, Associated Press Writer on
The governor of an oil-rich state in Nigeria arrested and charged in Britain for laundering millions has skipped bail and returned home, authorities said Monday.
The governor of an oil-rich state in Nigeria arrested and charged in Britain for laundering millions has skipped bail and returned home, authorities said Monday.
Bayelsa Gov. Diepreye Alamieyeseigha returned to Nigeria on an overnight flight, said Osita Nwajah, spokesman for the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission.
"What we are hearing ... is that he may have come out of his house dressed as a woman" to avoid being noticed by police, said Nwajah, without giving any details.
Alamieyeseigha was charged in September with laundering millions of dollars found in suitcases at his London home and in bank accounts linked to him.
A spokesman for London's Metropolitan Police told The Associated Press that Alamieyeseigha had failed to meet the requirements of his bail conditions and inquiries were in hand to trace him. He spoke on condition of anonymity, as is customary with British police officials.
Alamieyeseigha is the second of Nigeria's 36 state governors to be charged with money laundering and later skip bail.
Last year, British police arrested the governor of central Nigeria's Plateau state in a money-laundering probe launched jointly with Nigerian authorities. Attempts by Nigerian authorities to prosecute him after his return home were thrown out by a Nigerian judge, who said he had immunity.
Alamieyeseigha, 53, was first elected Bayelsa governor in a 1999 election that ended nearly two decades of military rule in Nigeria. He was re-elected in 2003. He was accused of employing thugs to help rig both elections, which he has denied.
Bayelsa is one of the largest oil-producing states in Nigeria, Africa's largest oil exporter. Alamieyeseigha is a member of President Olusegun Obasanjo's ruling party, but he has increasingly found himself at odds with the president over demands that his ethnic Ijaw people get a greater share of oil revenues.
Nigeria, a member of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, regularly ranks as one of the world's most-corrupt nations in annual surveys by Berlin-based anti-corruption watchdog Transparency International.