A British Court could order the confiscation of the sum of £100 million linked to a former governor of Delta State, James Ibori.
Ibori was in 2012 convicted and sentenced to 13 years’ imprisonment after he pleaded guilty to 10-count charge of money laundering after he was extradited from Dubai, UAE.
The prosecutor, David Tomlinson told a judge at Southwark Crown Court on Thursday that the fund should be seized as “factual findings” has been made in respect of the funds, according to Reuters.
The seizure will bring to an end, a decade of legal battle and efforts by prosecutors to take the funds considered to be the benefits of Ibori’s tentacles in the UK.
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Judge David Tomlinson of Southwark Crown Court at a hearing was also told how the figure should be calculated, taking into account the judge’s findings.
He is expected to finalise and formally issue his order on Friday or shortly afterwards.
Lead prosecution counsel, Jonathan Kinnear told the court that the total amount that should be confiscated from Ibori was 101.5 million pounds and that if he did not pay up, he should be sentenced to between five and 10 years in prison.
Having served half of his prison sentence in pre- and post-trial detention, as is common, Ibori returned to Nigeria in 2017 and did not attend Thursday’s hearing. He told Reuters by text message he planned to appeal against the confiscation order.
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