Reports out of London on Wednesday indicate that convicted former governor of Delta State, James Ibori, has been released from custody after completing a 13-year jail term.
Private radio, Ray Power FM, said in a news update on Wednesday afternoon that Mr. Ibori, a former governor of Delta State, was released following a court order that declined a British government’s request for an extension of his prison remand.
Although his spokesman, Tony Eluemunor, declined to confirm the development to PREMIUM TIMES Wednesdayafternoon, an online newspaper, The Will, reported that Mr. Ibori had been released but will not be allowed to travel outside the United Kingdom for the time being.
“THEWILL can, however, report that Ibori, who was in court for the suit will have to reside at his St. John’s Wood residence ONLY and will report to the police once weekly,” the paper said.
The UK Home Office had opposed Mr. Ibori’s release, citing inconclusive business in the asset forfeiture proceedings against the corrupt former governor.
Mr. Ibori was jailed on April 17, 2012, for 13 years. That was the third time the former governor, described as a thief in Government House, got sentenced for theft in London.
He is alleged to have stolen more than $250 million from the treasury of the oil-rich Delta State, plunging even more of his people into abject poverty and deprivation. The ex-governor is expected to be prosecuted by the anti-graft EFCC when he returns to Nigeria.
Some of his stolen cash and assets were later stashed away in offshore tax havens as revealed by PREMIUM TIMES’ series on Panama Papers published earlier this year.
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