Ex-Delta Gov. Ibori Released, Re-arrested In London After Completing Jail Term
…Re-arrested Over Fresh Charges, New Location Unknown
The former Delta State governor, James Onanefe Ibori, has been rearrested in the United Kingdom after initially regaining freedom from a London prison even as news had it that Ibori has been released and rearrested after completing his jail term in London.
The ex-governor, who was sentenced in April 2012 by a Southwark Crown court in London in the United Kingdom reportedly completed his prison terms and was released by prison authorities on January 22.
He finished his prison term at Her Majesty’s Prison in Bedford, outside of London, after initially being held at the Long Lartin Prison in Worcestershire.
It was gathered that Ibori was reportedly re-arrested to face a fresh charge which borders on the confiscation of his ill-gotten assets, estimated to be about 250 million pounds as sources confirmed that the case initially billed for May, will now come up in June.
Ibori, 57, had been jailed for using UK financial institutions to misappropriate hundreds of millions of pound sterling he stole from public funds in Delta state and his journey to jail began with his arrest on May 13, 2010 in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
He was nabbed under Interpol arrest warrants issued from United Kingdom courts and enacted by the Metropolitan Police.
Ibori also recently reacted to claims by Abubakar Malami, Nigeria’s Minister of Justice and Attorney-General of the federation (AGF) that the federal government would soon recover £6.9 million stolen funds frittered away by him.
In a statement issued on his behalf by Tony Eluemun, his media aide, Ibori said: “There is no Ibori loot anywhere in the world. Such money, whether in British pounds, American dollars or the Nigerian naira just does not exist. This is because the Ibori London trial is not yet over. It is an incontrovertible fact that the confiscation hearing has not started at all, and remains months away into the future.”