The United Kingdom has signed a Memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Nigeria to return the £4.2million loot recovered from James Ibori, former Governor of Delta State, and his associates.
The British High Commissioner to Nigeria, Catriona Laing signed the MoU on Tuesday on behalf of the UK with Abubakar Malalmi, the Attorney-General of the Federation.
Laing said the recovered Ibori loot will be returned to Nigeria in the coming weeks, adding that the UK is intensifying efforts to block moves to siphon public funds from Nigeria to the UK.
Recall that in 2012, Ibori was sentenced to 13 years in prison by a UK court, after he pleaded guilty to a 10-count charge of fraud of about $66 million, convicting him of fraud and money laundering.
However, Ibori returned to Nigeria in 2017 after serving part of his jail term and later appealed his conviction but was dismissed by a UK court which confiscated his assets in the UK.
In 2018, Ibori claimed he was being persecuted, saying “Owing to this, I have since lost faith in the British judicial system, having been through it and observed first-hand the politics, desperation and wicked machinations inherent in the process that rigged the trial against me and against all judicial wholesome processes, which differentiate the modern era from the dark ages,” he had said via a statement.
“I will continue to protest the political nature of my predicament. In all of this, I will say that what I have been through since the persecution against me began has taught me incredible lessons.”
