Ibori Pleads Guilty In London

Former Governor of Delta State, Chief James Onanefe Ibori today pleaded guilty before a Southwark Crown Court in London where he was being tried on fraud and money laundering charges. Sahara Reporters reports that Ibori pleaded guilty to 10 counts of fraud, money laundering and corrutption charges before Judge Anthony Pitts.

Ibori’s guilty plea, it was learnt, has closed a chapter to a long judicial and political saga pertaining to his massive money laundering activities in his eight years as governor of one of Nigeria’s major oil producing states. Click to read more

Ibori faces up to 10 years in UK prison during sentencing, which will take place after the completion of the trial of his accomplice and financial advisor, Elias Preko, a Ghanaian.

Today the judge ordered that the remaining charges would remain on file.

In a short submission, Crown Prosecution Service lawyer, Sasha Wass, QC said the prosecution does not seek to go ahead with Ibori’s trial anymore saying, “Mr. Ibori has accepted the entirety of the prosecution’s case as it has always been set out.”

Investigations revealed that the British judicial system usually rewards an accused who did not waste the time of the court by admitting their crimes with a 30 percent reduction in prison sentence.

P.M.NEWS also gathered that in sentencing him to a jail term, the court will take into consideration the number of years spent in detention by the convict.

Ibori, who was arrested on May 12, 2010 in Dubai, it was gathered, will have the months spent in Dubai and London detention centres deducted from his overall jail term.

Source: PM News