The
pioneer Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission has been
listed as a key witness against a former Governor of Delta State, Mr. James
Ibori, who the Federal Government is attempting to repatriate from the United
Kingdom, according to Punch.
Ribadu
had in an affidavit accused Ibori of giving him $15m in 2007 so that the EFCC
boss would not initiate a case against him.
After
receiving the cash, however, Ribadu entered it into evidence after which it was
kept in the vault of the Central Bank of Nigeria.
Ribadu
had said, “Ibori approached me with $15m to stop his investigation. The money
was brought in sacks. I called my people because the money was in big bags,
which two people could not carry and we deposited it in the CBN as evidence
against him.”
In
July 2012, the EFCC approached a Federal High Court in Abuja, requesting for a
final order forfeiting the $15m Ibori bribe which had been in the vaults of the
CBN for more than five years to the Federal Government as unclaimed proceeds of
crime.
Justice
Gabriel Kolawole on October 25, 2013, awarded the Federal government ownership
of the $15m Ibori bribe which is the subject of legal tussle between the EFCC
and the Delta State Government.
The
ex-governor, who spent four years in a UK prison, was released on Wednesday.
Some of his supporters had also kicked against attempts by the Federal
Government to arraign him in Nigeria next year, insisting that it would be
unjust for him to be tried twice for the same crime.
A
source at the EFCC, however, said, “Ibori’s alleged crimes are many. He was
convicted on 10 counts of money laundering and conspiracy to defraud.
“He
can be charged with offering gratification to a public officer in order to
refrain from acting in the exercise of his official duties regarding the
investigation of the petition against him. This is not double jeopardy.”
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