Lawyers acting for disgraced former Governor James Ibori of Delta State have sent UK prosecutors a bill for nearly £2 million after hearings meant to identify Mr. Ibori’s stolen funds and assets were abandoned three months ago, SaharaReporters has learnt.
A court in London heard that the whopping £1.9 million bill was handed to the Crown Prosecution Service by Mr. Ibori’s lawyers who believe the UK taxpayer should pay for the preparation they made for the three weeks of hearings before the process was abandoned.
“We were incredibly surprised to receive the bill,” prosecutor Sasha Wass told the court. “We think it’s not proportionate to say the least.”
In September, Judge Anthony Pitts ordered that the confiscation process be stopped and restarted at a later date after three weeks of hearings at the Southwark Crown Court. The judge’s ruling came after the defense team had pointed out a discrepancy in the way the case was being prepared by the prosecutors and their own understanding of the law.
The prosecution was assuming that the basis for the confiscation was that Mr. Ibori had the “lifestyle” of a criminal, living beyond his legitimate means, on the proceeds of crime.
The defense team, which has undergone some personnel changes since Mr. Ibori’s conviction in April 2012, said that they disputed this framing of the case, adding that further ruling would be required before the process could continue.
The defense, which is now led by money-laundering litigation specialist Ivan Krolick, argues that, in order to seize the proceeds of crimes to which the former governor has pled guilty, the prosecution must first prove that he “enjoyed the benefit” of the money.
Judge Pitts said this amounted to re-running the trial on charges to which the accused had already pled guilty. This process might have to be repeated for the other defendants whose ill-acquired funds prosecutors also seek to confiscate. Crown prosecutors want to combine the process for confiscation of Mr. Ibori’s assets with those for his wife, Theresa Ibori, his sister, Christine Ibori-Ibie, his mistress, Udoamaka Okoronkwo, and his UK solicitor, Bhadresh Gohil. All of them were convicted at separate trials.
“Never ever in all my years of hearing major cases have I heard of cases being litigated after pleas have been entered and convictions handed down. It sounds quite amazing,” Judge Pitts said in court in a veiled rebuke to Mr. Ibori’s defense attorneys. He then suggested that, if he could, he would have liked to be taken off the case, adding, however, that his responsibility as the judge who heard the substance of the charges to which Mr. Ibori pled guilty prevented him from passing on responsibility.
Arguments in the case were adjourned till Tuesday December 17. However, the actual confiscation hearings are to restart next year.
