- The development comes about six years after Ibori returned to Nigeria following a prison sentence he served for money laundering and fraud charges
- British authorities had indicted Ibori for stealing public funds and laundering them through UK banks and properties
A former governor of Delta State, James Ibori, faces a risk of a fresh 10-year jail term over money he is expected to pay following his conviction in a Uk court in 2012.
The court is set to order the seizure of more than £100 million ($129 million) from the former governor, Channels Television reports.
The development comes about six years after Ibori returned to Nigeria following a prison sentence he served for money laundering and fraud charges.
The British authorities had indicted the former governor for stealing public funds and laundering them through UK banks and properties. However, the trial on confiscation proceedings against Ibori began in February 2017.
Judge David Tomlinson of Southwark Crown Court has made factual findings regarding the amount of money linked to Ibori.
During a hearing on Thursday, the prosecution and the defence presented their arguments on how the confiscation figure should be calculated based on the judge’s findings.
Ibori, who returned to Nigeria in 2017 after serving half his sentence, did not attend the hearing.
The prosecution lawyer, Jonathan Kinnear, told the court that the total amount that should be confiscated from Ibori was £101.5 million.
Kinnear told the court that if he fails to pay, he should face an additional prison term of five and ten years.
The judge is expected to conclude and issue an order on Friday or soon after.
In another story, a Nigerian doctor and influencer, Olufumilayo Ogunsanya, popularly known as OurFavOnlineDoctor, has been exonerated by the United Kingdom Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service of allegations of rape and sexual misconduct levelled against him by a fellow health practitioner, Dr Bolanle Aseyan.
This was revealed in an official press release by the UK MPTS after a thorough investigation which went on for a period of three years.
It was also revealed that Dr Ogunsanya, who was based in the United Kingdom at the time of the accusation, was in a relationship with Dr Aseyan but the pair broke up leading to false accusation in 2020.
Announcing this news to Nigerians on social media with attached pictures of the tribunal press release, a member of Ogunsanya’s legal team in Nigeria, Inibehe Effiong, said that his client has been exonerated and the false accuser is currently facing both civil and criminal lawsuits in Nigeria for her actions. He also revealed that his client had previously been investigated by United Kingdom police and had been cleared.
“This latest vindication of Funmi is a victory for all victims of false accusations of sexual misconduct,” Effiong said.
“It is important to state that the standard of proof at the Tribunal which resulted in their findings was based on a balance of probability; and not proved beyond reasonable doubt. This is very significant because it shows that the allegation had no iota of merit or credibility,” the legal practitioner said via his social media account.
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