James Ibori, the flamboyant governor of the oil-rich state in southern Nigeria from 1999 to 2007, was jailed in Britain in 2012 for money laundering and fraud as a result of a Metropolitan Police operation. A UK court ordered him and his criminal associates to repay £130 million ($167 million) that he stole while governor of Delta State.
Financial investigators from the UK’s National Crime Agency (NCA) then started confiscation proceedings.
The judge at a confiscation hearing in London’s Southwark Crown Court on Monday ordered Ibori to repay £101,514,315.21. They said he had accumulated a criminal fortune of about £116 million.
His lawyer, Badresh Babulal Gohil, who is based in the UK, was mandated to pay back $28,191,787.15.
If Ibori does not cooperate, he faces an eight-year prison sentence, and Gohil has six months to make good on his debt or face an additional six years in prison.
Nigeria and Britain agreed to a settlement on the money’s repatriation as a result of the significant corruption case.
According to the agreement, Nigeria must utilise the money to support important infrastructure projects.
In a statement, NCA Branch Commander Suzanne Foster said that “this confiscation order underlines our willingness to pursue unlawfully obtained funds that have been invested in the UK.”
“Ibori was strong and well-liked, yet he was subject to the law. He has now lost the life he had built on illegal activity, she said.
Ibori, a former cashier at a network of British DIY stores, purchased opulent residences, top-of-the-line vehicles, and a private jet using tax dollars.
Investigators concentrated on the fictitious transfer and acquisition of shares in Ibori’s mobile phone company by Nigeria’s Akwa Ibom and Delta States.
In 2010, he fled to Dubai but was later extradited to Britain, where he was found guilty and served the first four years of a 13-year prison sentence. In December 2016, he got his freedom.
