Legal authorities in the UK have confirmed that Mrs. Theresa Nkoyo Ibori’s trial will proceed, despite distorted media reports in Nigeria that the wife of former Governor James Onanefe Ibori of Delta State had been cleared of wrong doing.
Both Attorney General Michael Aondoakaa and Ibori’s associates have claimed Mrs. Ibori was free from prosecution following a verdict by the London High Court that ruled evidence received from the "Letter of Request 2" should not apply to her since she was not mentioned in any of the correspondences.
Despite the impression in sections of the Nigerian press that the case against Ibori’s wife had collapsed, SaharaReporters learnt that Mrs. Ibori was denied the bail variation she sought. “Her trial is very much on course,” said an official in the Crown Prosecution Office.
On Monday (December 22nd 2008), Mrs. Ibori's lawyers were to approach the Southwark Crown Court to ask that her passport be released to enable her to visit her husband in Nigeria, but she abandoned the application midway. That means that the stringent bail conditions imposed upon her since her release from the Holloway Prison in May 2008 remain in place. The conditions include 250,000 pounds surety as well as seizure of her passports and travel documents.
However, the judge noted Mrs. Ibori’s recent broken ankle injury, and agreed that she not be forced to return to the Metropolitan Police to sign on her bail bonds in a police station while recuperating.
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The judge also refused to vary the bail conditions of Ibori's UK-based lawyer, Bhadresh Gohil. Our source said Mr. Gohil is believed to be involved in a fresh scandal involving the former governor of Akwa Ibom state, Obong Victor Attah. While the source did not offer specific details, Mr. Gohil’s shady dealings with Attah were said to pertain to the V-mobile shares converted by the former governor. Attah is one of the former governors named by the Ribadu-led EFCC as engaged in extensive money laundering while in office.
Mr. Attah has been spared from interrogation or arrest by the new EFCC leadership under Mrs. Farida Waziri who is working quietly to sabotage all corruption investigations and prosecutions of former state governors indicted by the EFCC.
Ibori's other associates accused of money laundering include Adebimpe Folayinmi Pogoson (aged 39) of Barons Court, Church Lane, The Hyde, NW9, and Ibori's blood sister, Christine Omatie Ibori-Ibie (aged 49) of Woodhill Crescent, Kenton, Harrow, Middlesex. They as well as his lawyer, Mr. Gohil, will remain on bail as earlier granted until January 12 2008 when their trial is expected to commence at the Southwark Crown Court.
Meanwhile, Ibori's mistress and co-accused, Mrs. Udoamaka Okoronkwo (nee Onuigbo), will remain at an all-female Holloway Prison in London until January 12 2009. The judge refused her bail due to insufficient bonds offered by way of houses belonging to her friends in London.
Sources told Saharareporters that there would likely be two trials. Ibori's sister, Christine, Mrs. Pogoson and Udoamaka may be tried as a group, while Mr. Gohil, Ibori’s wife, Theresa Nkoyo, and Udoamaka will likely face another set of charges.
In another development, the Crown Prosecution Services (CPS) through the UK Home Secretary has dispatched another letter to Nigeria's Attorney General, Michael Aondoakaa, requesting formal permission to use a trance of evidence known as the "Letter of Request 2" earlier obtained directly from the EFCC. The CPS has requested that Aondoakaa endorse the evidence so that they may be introduced in the trial of Ibori's associates.
Even as the letter is on its way to Aondoakaa, sources close to the AGF told our reporters that Aondoakaa has already begun making plans to frustrate the UK’s request.
Closely allied to Ibori, Aondoakaa reportedly worked behind the scene to help secure an appeal court ruling that asked the Chief Judge of the Federal High Court to reassign Ibori’s to a "jurisdiction" close to where the crimes were committed. That means that a judge in Delta State would be asked to take over Ibori’s case. “I can tell you that Ibori and Aondoakaa celebrated the verdict,” said one of our sources, close to both men. He disclosed that Ibori “plans to use a combination of intimidation and bribery to secure his acquittal.”
SaharaReporters also learnt that Ibori and Aondoakaa have decided to use Mrs. Pogoson's lawyer, a London-based Nigerian lawyer named Oba Nsugbe, to frustrate the prosecution of Ibori’s associates.
Our sources said Oba Nsugbe has been asked to formally appeal to Aondoakaa to write another brief challenging the first trance of evidence already accepted by the London High court for use in prosecuting Ibori’s associates. Aondoakaa and Nsugbe are close pals, according to a source who knows the UK-based lawyer. If Aondoakaa contests the use of the first trance, “he is likely to damage the already questionable image of his office,” said a UK-based lawyer.
A legal analyst told Saharareporters that Mr. Nsugbe and Aondoakaa appear determined to seek ways to further frustrate the prosecution. Part of their strategy may be to introduce new delays that would divert attention from the UK’s letter of request to Aondoakaa requesting his endorsement of the second trance of evidence. The Home Office has asked Aondoakaa to respond to their request on or before January 9 2009. On that same date, Mrs. Ibori has requested for a hearing to dismiss the case against her.
Aondoakaa has already written several letters and unsolicited legal briefs on Ibori's behalf to frustrate the UK money laundering cases. He recently made public statements giving conditions under which he would accede to the request for endorsement of the evidence, citing "territorial integrity of Nigeria" and the need to avoid "double jeopardy" for Ibori, even though Ibori is only facing trial in Nigeria (technically none at this time). Only Udoamaka Okoronkwo is facing trials in Nigeria and the UK at the same time. Besides, Udoamaka Okoronkwo’s trial in Nigeria is effectively in abeyance following the recent Court of Appeal decision in Kaduna.
One source told SaharaReporters that, should Aondoakaa refuse to endorse the second trance of evidence, the CPS may ask the court to admit the evidence all the same using what is called the "fruit of the poison tree" doctrine.
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