UK to return $5.8m to Nigeria from jailed politician's stolen assets

10 March 2021 - 11:13 By Camillus Eboh and Alexis Akwagyiram
subscribe Just R20 for the first month. Support independent journalism by subscribing to our digital news package.
Subscribe now
The £4.2m was stolen by James Ibori and his associates but retrieved through operations led by British law enforcement agencies, who identified assets bought in Britain with illicit funds, the Foreign Office said in a statement.
The £4.2m was stolen by James Ibori and his associates but retrieved through operations led by British law enforcement agencies, who identified assets bought in Britain with illicit funds, the Foreign Office said in a statement.
Image: REUTERS/Estelle Shirbon

Britain has agreed to send to Nigeria £4.2m (around R88.8m) recovered from a former state governor who was jailed for laundering money in Britain, the two countries said on Tuesday.

James Ibori, who was governor of southern oil-producing Delta State from 1999 to 2007, pleaded guilty at London's Southwark Crown Court in 2012 to 10 counts of fraud and money-laundering. He received a 13-year sentence.

The £4.2m was stolen by Ibori and his associates but retrieved through operations led by British law enforcement agencies, who identified assets bought in Britain with illicit funds, the Foreign Office said in a statement.

Nigeria's attorney general, Abubakar Malami, said the funds would be used to help complete a number of infrastructure projects, including a road connecting the capital Abuja and northern commercial hub Kano.

"I am confident that both the Nigerian and British governments remain committed to all affirmative actions to combat corruption... (and) illicit financial flows," Malami said at a ceremony at which officials from the two countries signed an agreement on the return of the funds.

The agreement builds on a 2016 memorandum of understanding that provides a framework for the return of stolen assets to Nigeria.

Reuters


subscribe Just R20 for the first month. Support independent journalism by subscribing to our digital news package.
Subscribe now