James Ibori to forfeit fresh £100m to UK, risks another 10 years’ jail

The United Kingdom authorities have reportedly launched proceedings to seize more than £100 million from former Delta State governor Mr James Ibori indicted for money laundering.

According to Reuters, Jonathan Kinnear, the state’s senior prosecutor, told the court on Thursday that the total amount of money that should be confiscated from Ibori was £101.5 million.

The lawyer further informed the court that Ibori risks facing a fresh five to 10 years prison sentence should he fail to pay the money.

The medium reports that a judge at Southwark Crown Court, David Tomlinson, has made “factual findings” about the funds and is anticipated to make a formal order on Friday or shortly thereafter.

The judge’s decision will end over ten years of legal wrangling over the attempt to seize the assets.

This comes seven years after the former governor returned to Nigeria upon serving a prison sentence for money laundering.

Ibori, 63, had since maintained a low profile since his release from prison in the United Kingdom, focusing his political efforts solely on the oil-rich state of Delta until he made a public appearance after a meeting with President Bola Tinubu, who hosted him twice at the Presidential Villa in Abuja, along with other former governors.

In 2011, Ibori was extradited from Dubai to London and charged with laundering a “corruptly obtained fortune.”

He pled guilty to ten counts of fraud and money laundering in 2012 and received a 13-year prison sentence, which Britain hailed as a watershed event in the fight against corruption.

The British authorities, on the other hand, have promised to restore any money collected from Mr Ibori to Nigeria. It recovered £4.2 million confiscated from Ibori’s ex-wife and sister, who were also sent to prison for assisting him in money laundering in 2021.