Ibori gets his prize today

By The Nation: OLUKOREDE YISHAU

 

 Ibori

Since he left the Government House, Asaba on May 29, 2007 as a two-term governor of Delta State, James Onanefe Ibori has been facing corruption-related litigations. Though he was discharged and acquitted of all corruption charges by a Federal High Court sitting in Asaba, it has been a different ball game at a London Southwark Crown Court, where he pleaded guilty to money laundering charges. The court will today sentence Ibori, writes OLUKOREDE YISHAU

All eyes are on the London's Southwark Crown Court, where former Delta State Governor James Onanefe Ibori will  get his prize for a life of fraud. He will be sentenced.
In February, he admitted stealing tens of millions of pounds from the oil-rich Delta State so much that he became known as the ‘oil sheik’. 
Less than two decades after he  worked as an employee at the DIY store and few years after quitting his £5,000-a-year job as a cashier for Wickes, Ibori had become one of Nigeria’s most influential and richest politicians.
Before his emergence as governor, he was an ally of the military regime of the late Gen. Sani Abacha. Not much was known of his life before his romance with the Abacha regime through Maj. Hamza al-Mustapha, Abacha’s Chief Secretary Officer (CSO). But not anymore. His story, from his days as s store keeper in the United Kingdom, to the time he returned home and his tenure as governor are now open books, being read by all. It is now an open secret that he used a false date of birth to conceal previous convictions in the United Kingdom when he ran for governorship. 
Antony Goldman, a journalist who worked in Nigeria, said  Ibori offered services to Abacha. Goldman said: “He had an unspecified role in security. That could be anything, it was a very murky business.”
He said in the mid-1990s, Ibori was questioned by the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) in the United States (US) about how he came into the possession of millions of dollars that he transferred to accounts in the US.
The FBI, he said, suspected the money came from advance fee fraud and was able to prove the money came from his work with Abacha.
Ibori, whose address in England was given as Primrose Hill in North London, worked  as a cashier in a branch of a DIY store in Ruislip, Middlesex and was found guilty of stealing goods from the Wickes store. He was caught by his employer allowing his wife, Theresa, walk through the till he was manning without paying for goods. They both pleaded guilty at Isleworth Crown Court and were fined. In 1992, he was convicted for possession of a stolen credit card, which had £1,000 spent on it, and was again fined.
He knew his past could catch up with him. So, in 1999, when Ibori took out a mortgage on a property in Abbey Road, London, he got a new passport with a false birth date to mask his previous convictions. The birth date he chose was only a month after his sister’s birthday, which the prosecution told the court was medically impossible. He paid off the house immediately he became governor. 
The decision of the court today will help the British government decide what to do with Ibori’s multi-billion naira assets in the UK. Will they be confiscated or returned to Nigeria? Today’s judjment will determine. His eralier guilty plea to charges of conspiracy to defraud lessened the burden of the court. 
Ibori, 49, admitted stealing money from Delta State and laundering it in London through a number of offshore companies. Ibori admitted to fraud totalling more than $79 million, said to be part of total embezzlement that could exceed $250 milion.
Investigation revealed he bought six properties in London, including a six-bedroom house with indoor pool in Hampstead for £2.2 million and a flat opposite the nearby Abbey Road recording studios.
He also bought a property in Dorset, a £3.2 million mansion in South Africa and further real estate in Nigeria.
Prosecution said he owned a fleet of armoured Range Rovers costing £600,000 and a £120,000 Bentley. On one of his several trips to London, he was said to have bought a Mercedes Maybach for over £300,000 at a dealer on Park Lane and shipped it to South Africa.
He also bought a private jet for £12million, spent £126,000 a month on his credit cards and ran up a £15,000 bill for a two-day stay at the Lanesborough hotel in London.
Prosecutor Sasha Wass told the court Ibori had accepted he was involved in “wide-scale theft, fraud and corruption when he was governor of Delta State”.
Wass added: “Mr Ibori tricked his way into public office. He had tricked the Nigerian authorities and the Nigerian voters. He was thus never the legitimate governor of Delta State. He was never the legitimate governor and there was effectively a thief in government house. As the pretender of that public office, he was able to plunder Delta State’s wealth and hand out patronage.” 
Detective Inspector Paul Whatmore of the Metropolitan Police  said: “We are pleased with today’s guilty pleas which mark the culmination of a seven-year inquiry into James Ibori’s corrupt activities. We will now be actively seeking the confiscation of all of his stolen assets so they can be repatriated for the benefit of the people of Delta State.
“It is always rewarding for anyone working on a proceeds of corruption case to know that the stolen funds they identify will eventually be returned to some of the poorest and most vulnerable people in the world.”
Prosecution said as governor, Ibori racked up credit card bills of $200,000 monthly and owned a fleet of armoured Range Rovers. He was trying to buy a plane for £20 million at the time he was arrested. 
The ex-governor’s wife, Theresa, sister, Christine Ibori-Idie, mistress, Udoamaka Okoronkwo, and London-based solicitor Bhadresh Gohil were earlier convicted of money-laundering. 
His ‘travail’ was funded by the  Britain’s Department for International Development (DfID) at a cost of approximately £750,000 a year. The Metropolitan Police’s Proceeds of Corruption unit (POCU) began investigating Ibori in 2005, collaborating with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission EFCC).
He was arrested by the EFCC in December 2007, but two years later a court in Asaba, dismissed the charges, saying there was not enough evidence. The case was reopened in April 2010; Ibori fled to Dubai United Arab Emirate (UDE) where he was detained at the request of the Metropolitan Police and extradited to the UK last April.
Britain’s International Development Secretary Andrew Mitchell  said: “We are committed to rooting out corruption wherever it is undermining development, and will help bring its perpetrators like Ibori to justice and return stolen funds to help the world’s poorest.
Mitchell said: “Funding investigations such as these help to recover valuable stolen funds which can be returned to Nigeria to be used for development. Doing this is making a major contribution to Nigeria’s development, on a scale far in excess of the cost of the investigation itself. It is good value for Nigeria and for the British taxpayer.”

US candidate Kim is World Bank president

By The Nation: Nduka Chiejina, Asst. Editor

 

Jim Yong Kim

• Promises to draw on Nigerian, Columbian candidates’ expertise • Jonathan, Okonjo-Iweala congratulate him

American Jim Yong Kim was last night named as World Bank President. The Dartmouth College’s president was picked after an unprecedented competition against nominees from Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala from Nigeria and Dr. Jose Ochampo from Columbia, who withdrew at the last minute.







The bank board confirmed the decision in a statement. Kim will now be the institution’s 12th president to succeed Robert Zoellick when his five-year term ends in June.The Board expressed its deep gratitude for Mr Zoellick’s outstanding leadership and his dedication to reducing poverty in its member countries, the core mandate of the World Bank Group.
A statement by the World Bank said: "The Executive Directors followed the new selection process agreed in 2011 which, for the first time in the Bank’s history, yielded multiple nominees. This process included an open nomination where any national of the Bank’s membership could be proposed by any Executive Director or Governor, publication of the names of the candidates, interviews of the candidates by the Executive Directors, and final selection of the President."
It added: "We, the Executive Directors, wish to express our deep appreciation to all the nominees, Jim Yong Kim, José Antonio Ocampo and Mrs Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala. Their candidacies enriched the discussion of the role of the President and of the World Bank Group’s future direction. The final nominees received support from different member countries, which reflected the high calibre of the candidates. We all look forward to working with Dr. Kim when he assumes his responsibilities.
"Dr. Jim Yong Kim is currently President of Dartmouth College. A U.S. national. He is a co-founder of Partners in Health (PIH) and a former director of the Department of HIV/AIDS at the World Health Organisation (WHO). Before assuming the Dartmouth presidency, Dr. Kim held professorships at Harvard Medical School and the Harvard School of Public Health. He also served as chair of the Department of Global Health and Social Medicine at Harvard Medical School, chief of the Division of Global Health Equity at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, and director of the François Xavier Bagnoud Center for Health and Human Rights at the Harvard School of Public Health."
In a statement after his election, Dr. Kim said he had spoken with Okonjo-Iweala and Prof. Ocampo. He said they have both made important contributions to economic development, and I look forward to drawing on their expertise in the years to come.
Meanwhile,President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan has congratulated Dr. kim on his election as the new President of the World Bank. President Jonathan also thanked the leaders, governments, peoples and friends of developing countries, as well as the media and other civil society groups, for the support and encouragement given to Dr. Okonjo-Iweala.
Okonjo-Iweala, who had earlier said she was pressured to withdraw from the race but she declined, also congratulated Dr Kim on his election as the World Bank President.
She said she looked forward to working with Dr Kim and would support him, staff and stakeholders of the World Bank Group for the benefit of poor people around the world, "their plight is at the heart of the mandate of the institution and we must never lose sight of that."
On the selection process, she insisted that "we need to make it more open, transparent and merit-based to make sure we do not contribute to a democratic deficit in global governance."

N26b Police pension cash in five banks

By Onyedi Ojiabor, and Sanni Onogu, Abuja 

 

 Chairman, Pension Reform Task Team, Mr. Abdulrasheed Maina

Of the N32billion Police Pension Fund cash, N26 billion has been traced to five banks.
The Senate Committee probing the funds’ management also heard yesterday that the Chairman, Pension Reform Task Team, Mr. Abdulrasheed Maina, spends over N9 million monthly on security.
As the Senator Aloysius Etok-led investigative panel on Management of Pension Funds resumed sitting, seven bank chief executives appeared before the committee to clarify the allegation that some banks were conduit pipes to launder pension cash.
Director, Police Pension Office, Mr. Toyin Ishola, who disclosed the whereabouts of the controversial police pension funds, gave the breakdown of the amount traced to the five banks.
He listed Fidelity Bank, United Bank for Africa (UBA), ECO Bank, Guaranty Trust Bank (GTB) and First Bank as the banks the funds were domiciled.
Ishola said that Fidelity Bank, UBA and Ecobank each holds N8billion. GTB has N2billion and First Bank N10 billion.
He said the Police Pension Office was working hard to locate N6 billion balance.
Only the Executive Director of Ecobank, Mr. Segun Jafia, who represented his bank, disputed the N3billion said to have been deposited in his bank.
Though Jafia agreed that Ecobank is one of the bankers of the police pensioners, he said the bank is only a paying bank. He admitted that N4 billion was paid into the police pension for payment of pensioners.
Jafia noted that the money had gone into paying police pensioners, leaving a balance of N200 million.
The Ecobank ED said the bank is one of the bankers of the Head of Service pension office.
Diamond Bank Acting Managing Director Mr. Oladele Akinyemi said it was not possible to give one account number to more than one person.
He said his bank does not have any codified account or any account with the name “Chairman”.
The committee mandated the bank to furnish it with details of the accounts of Police Pension, Head of Service, Custom, Immigration and Prisons Pension Office (CIPPO).
GTB Managing Director Mr. Segun Agbaje told the committee that the police pension account was opened on April 6, 2011, with a deposit of N3billion and closed on June 30, 2011.
He told the panelists that the Accountant General’s letter of authorisation to open the account was received on March 2, 2011.
Agbaje said N3billion was deposit placement done in a person’s name and withdrawal usually done by the same person.
He said the money came in form of Electronic Fund Transfer.
The GTB boss said N2b was later transferred to Ecobank on instruction.
Agbaje said the interest accrued to the account was N924,000.
He said the bank was directed on June 30, 2011 to close the account and transfer the money to a new account. The balance in the account is N1.1 billion.
Executive Director of First Bank, Kehinde Lawanson, said the bank was asked to reconcile 14 accounts.
Lawanson said FirstBank found out that five accounts were duplicated.
He added that essentially “we are dealing with nine accounts”.
On whether the bank assigned one account number to four individuals, Lawanson noted that “it is extremely improbable to give one account number to more than one person”.
On some deposits which the committee described as “unusual lodgments” totalling about N44.9 million, Lawanson said if it discovered any form of unusual lodgment of funds, the bank has a procedure to report to the appropriate authorities as specified in the Anti-Money Laundering Act.
He said his bank reported unusual lodgments whenever applicable.
He explained that in the case of Electronic Fund Transfer, once the account number and code are correct, it becomes automatic credit.
Fidelity Bank Executive Director I. K. Mbagwu told the committee that the bank received a request from the Police Reform Task Team to open an account on August 9, 2011 and N6 billion was lodged.
Mbagwu who said the money is still with the bank.
The banker described the account as a “memorandum account”, saying it existed as a “memorandum account” until the authorisation to open the account came from the Accountant General’s office.
He said the account became active only when the Accountant General’s office authorised its opening on August 17, 2011.
Mbagwu said N2billion was paid into the account on August 17, leaving a balance of N8 billion.
On the claim by the Pension Reform Task Team that it recovered N31 billion, he noted that N31 billion could not have been recovered since the money was in the Police Pension account.
Former Head of Service Prof. Afolabi Oladapo also said it was a false claim for the Pension Task Team to have said that it recovered six million pounds.
He said: “It was a false claim to say that six million pounds was recovered. Nothing was recovered because nothing was lost in the first place.”
He said the six million pounds was an investment account domiciled in the United Kingdom.
On the security of the Pension Reform Task Team leader, Maina, Ishola said they were told that Maina made himself inaccessible to pensioners by the surrounding himself with over 42 security agents drawn from the riot police, State Security Service (SSS), the Customs and Prisons Service.
Ishola said they were also told that Maina spends over N9 million monthly on security.

69 oil marketers to refund N241.247b petrol subsidy

By The Nation: Yusuf Alli, Abuja

 

Hon Lawan

Stakeholders seek probe from 1999

The House of Representatives Ad hoc Committee on Fuel Subsidy has asked 69 oil marketers to refund N241.247billion.
Besides the illegal cash they got last year, 46 companies did not pay taxes, according to the Federal Inland Revenue Service.

The committee established that N1.692trillion was paid as subsidy last year.
But stakeholders in the industry, including some oil majors, are insisting that the probe ought to be from 1999 to date.
Besides, the presentation of the report today by the committee has assumed ethnic dimension with a group, the South-South Youth Caucus, accusing the North of plotting to undermine President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration.

The Farouk Lawan-led committee discovered that disqualified subsidy claims by 69 companies amounted to N241.247 billion.

Some of the companies are: Acorn Plc, Alminnur Resources Ltd, AMG Petro-Energy Ltd, Anosyke Group of companies Ltd, Ascon Oil & Gas Company, Avant Garde Energy, A-Z Petroleum, CAH Resources Association Ltd, Conoil Plc, Crust Energy Ltd, Downstream Energy Source Ltd, Dozzy Oil and Gas Ltd, Duport Marine Ltd, Eco-Regen Ltd, Eurafic Oil and Coastal Services Ltd, and First Deep water Discovery Ltd.

Others are: Frado International Ltd, Fresh Synergy Ltd, Heyden Petroleum, Ibafon Oil Ltd, Imad Oil & Gas Ltd, Integrated Resources Ltd, Ipman Investment Ltd, Knightsbridge, Linetrale Oil supply and Trading Company, Lingo Oil & Gas Company Ltd, Lloyds Energy Ltd, Lottoj Oil & Gas Ltd, Maizube Petroleum Ltd, Matrix Energy Oil & Gas Ltd, Menol Oil & Gas Ltd.

The report of the committee reads in part: “Discharges that suffered one or more of the above infractions were adjudged not sustainable and, therefore, not good enough to attract any subsidy. The disqualified claims to subsidy amount to N241.247billion.

“The associated PMS volumes of 3,453,690,070 litres are, therefore, deductible from the annual mass volume, with a view to determining the appropriate volume of consumption.

“These defective transactions should be further investigated by the EFCC to ensure that all those who collected unmerited subsidy are made to refund the amounts collected.”

The committee asked the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation to account for over N213.678billion being excess subsidy payments in 2009 and 2010.

The report added: “The Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation (OAGF) should account for N213.678billion being total of excess payments made by it over and above what the PPPRA identified as paid in 2009 and 2010. The OAGF is not only responsible for the accounts of the Federation, including the Petroleum Subsidy Funds (PSF) and Domestic Crude Account, but refused to provide further details on the account when requested to do so during the public hearing.

“EFCC and ICPC should ensure that the OAGF accounts for the over-recovery figures of NGN 2.766billion and NGN5.27billion.”

The panel faulted alleged conflicting figures from the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC).

It said: “NNPC had two sources of recovery of its subsidy viz: (i) Direct deductions from Domestic Crude receipts accruable to the Federation. (ii) Payment by CBN through deduction from distributable revenues as per the Federation Account Component Statement.
“NNPC, in its submission, claimed to have earned N586 billion as subsidy from the supply of 7,576,726, 157 litres of PMS in 2011.

“However by PPPRA’s presentation, NNPC was paid a subsidy of N667.533billion for supplying 5,470,007,111 litres of PMS.
“By CBN’s presentation, NNPC was paid N844.944billion as subsidy in 2011. In addition to CBN’s payment of N844.944billion as represented on the Federation Account Component Statement, NNPC made a direct deduction of N847.942billion as subsidy in 2011, bringing all claims to N1.692 trillion.”

On the jump in subsidy to N1.6trillion in 2011, the Lawan committee said the PPPRA’s argument that it was due to computed arrears was untenable and illegal.

It said: “PPPRA, in its presentation to the House of Representatives, had hinted that the noticeable upsurge in subsidy payment in 2011 was due not only to increase in subsidy per litre but also due
 to the computed arrears due NNPC for HHK discharges. This was established from NNPC’s submission to be N284.580billion.

“This payment of subsidy arrears on HHK was an illegality, having been proscribed by a presidential directive in 2009. NNPC was stopped from further collecting subsidy on HHK. The corporation abided by the presidential directive but unilaterally reversed the situation without any counter directive or order from the President.”

Following the leakage of the report, some stakeholders in the oil industry met last night in Abuja ahead of its presentation today.
After the session in a posh hotel, one of the stakeholders, who spoke in confidence, said: “For Nigerians to know the truth about fuel subsidy, we are demanding that the House should extend the probe to subsidy payment since 1999 or pre-1999 era.
“That is the only condition the report can be acceptable or credible. They cannot make those who imported fuel from 2009 to 2011 scapegoats. We want fairness for all.
“Nigeria can only clean its oil industry, if there is a comprehensive inquiry into the subsidy management since 1999 or before 1999.”

The Coordinator of the Southsouth Youth Caucus, David Osaro, in a statement last night, said: “The North wants to use the House of Representatives probe to bring down Jonathan’s government.

“It has become very clear that the current House of Representatives probe of the petroleum industry and the deregulation of the downstream sector is nothing but a subtle plot by the North to discredit and ultimately bring down the Jonathan administration.

“It is very evident that in order to achieve their aim, the North quickly cashed in on the fuel subsidy removal issue, and due to its sensitivity, everything was put in place to actualise their plans of truncating this administration. Otherwise, how else do you explain the fact that a probe into the activities of the oil industry should have predated the current administration of Dr. Goodluck Jonathan?

“Even more curious is the fact that similar probes in the past have not yielded anything that the ordinary Nigerian can be proud of, both in terms of findings and implementation of probe reports. Ordinarily, it would have been taken for  granted that the House of Representatives panel may find nothing actually incriminating against the current government of Mr. President but the manner in which the House is going about it truly leaves much to be desired, in terms of its sincerity.

“If tradition is also anything to go by, it may be pertinent to state that the North is trying to use the House of Representatives to achieve its plan of shifting the power equation back to the North. If this were not the case, how then do you rationalise the failure of the House to actually extend the probe to also include the oil industry from 2009 till date?”