A London court has ordered the immediate release of James Onanefe Ibori from prison before nightfall today.
Ibori was convicted and jailed for corruption and money laundering by a Southwark Crown court on 17th April 2012 in the United Kingdom (UK), but there has been mild drama today in the British High Court as senior lawyers for the UK’s Home Office failed in their last-minute bid to prevent Ibori’s release.
According to TheNewsGuru reporter monitoring the Ibori trend of events from the United Kingdom (UK), there was mild drama in the British High Court today as senior lawyers for the UK’s Home Office failed in their last-minute bid to prevent Ibori’s release.
TheNewsGuru can report that the apparent decision to block Ibori’s release and detain him appears to have come from the highest echelons of the UK Government – the Home Secretary who was accused in today’s hearing of acting unlawfully and misusing her powers.
Sian Davies, the Crown Prosecution lawyer did not object to Ibori’s return to Nigeria, yet at the last minute the Home Office stepped in. There is clear discord between the two arms of the British Government.
Ibori’s team was led by Ian McDonald QC, the leading QC on immigration.
The visibly irritated Judge could not understand the Home Secretary’s position and at times was critical of the move to detain Ibori any further.
Justice Juliet May rejected the Home Secretary’s requests for conditions to be imposed and ordered Ibori’s immediate release.
British Home Secretary, Amber Rudd, is being unlawful and indications reveal she is misusing her powers.
Ivan Krolic, who also attended explained that Ibori’s confiscation proceedings collapsed in 2013, after the Prosecution was unable to establish any theft from the Delta State and any benefit for Ibori. A three-week hearing which heard live evidence was abandoned by the prosecutors – Wass QC and Shutzer-Weissman. Both prosecutors have since been dismissed from the case for gross misconduct.
Krollic further explained that British police officers in the case led by DC McDonald, have again been referred to the Independent Police Complaints Commission and now face a though investigation into their corrupt activities in this case. The CPS has confirmed officers in the case were corrupt. It has since disclosed substantial material evidencing the graft.
Ibori and others have long maintained that this prosecution was politically motivated. It was funded by the UK’s Department for International Development (DFID), whose senior employee was also the jury foreperson in one of the earlier trials.
The Ibori case has been plagued with British police corruption, exceptional prosecutorial misconduct and fundamental non-disclosure. A multitude of appeals have now been launched or are in the process of being launched.
As at the time of filing this report, the UK government has obeyed the court order with Christine Ibori Ibie leading a pack of Ibori associates to prison to pick up freed James Ibori.