Nigerian anti-graft war teeters
By Anita Coulson, BBC News 

Worldwide efforts to bring corrupt Nigerian government officials to justice and seize their ill-gotten gains, are reportedly being frustrated by political feuds inside Nigeria.

A series of recent setbacks has led several commentators to question President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua's commitment to tackling the grand corruption that continues to tarnish his country's reputation.

Amid frenzied speculation in the Nigerian press, the actions and motives of Nigeria's Attorney General Michael Aondoakaa are being called into question, not least because of his personal intervention in a corruption case before the courts in London.

On Monday, Judge Goymer at London's Southwark Crown Court lifted an earlier order from August to freeze former Delta state governor James Ibori's $70m (£35m; 8bn naira) assets worldwide, including a Bombardier private jet, on suspicion that the assets were the proceeds of crime.

Judge Goymer was persuaded by Mr Ibori's team of lawyers that there was insufficient proof the assets were the proceeds of crime thanks to a letter they obtained from Mr Aondoakaa in August stating that the former Delta state governor had been investigated but not charged, tried or convicted in Nigeria "relating to money laundering or any other offences".

London's Metropolitan Police say the setback is only temporary, their investigations are continuing and Mr Ibori is one of several former Nigerian state governors who remain wanted for questioning in London.

Detective Chief Superintendent Trevor Shepherd told the BBC news website, "We would like to see all of them back in London to prove their innocence."

The Met says that thanks to Britain's robust regulatory regime regarding the movement of large amounts of cash, the men in question will not be able to launder or remove large amounts of "dirty" money - but provided they are willing to show that they acquired the assets legitimately, they could be free to reclaim their assets.

Dariye case

The development in the Ibori case came on the same day that former governor of Plateau State Joshua Dariye petitioned President Yar'Adua, accusing Nigeria's anti-graft agency, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) of appropriating a large amount of the money seized from him in the UK.

In effect Mr Dariye admitted having more than 770m naira ($6m) in London and claimed that only 29.3m naira ($235,000) had been declared to the federal government by the anti-corruption agency.

Dariye's petition accused the EFCC of "underhand dealing", which they reject saying they assisted the Metropolitan Police with information and evidence to help it in the investigation and prosecution of Chief Dariye over his contravention of UK money laundering laws". The Met confirms this.

"Mr Dariye is currently facing charges in Nigeria for looting the coffers of the Plateau State government," EFCC spokesman Osita Nwajah said.

The Met confirms Mr Dariye is also still wanted in London where he is likely to face money-laundering charges. His accomplice Joyce Oyebanjo was convicted of money laundering and is serving a three-year prison sentence in the UK, but Mr Dariye skipped police bail in 2004 and fled back to Nigeria.

  When we arrested him, one Nigerian state governor had a solid gold mobile phone
DCS Trevor Shepherd, Metropolitan Police 

Among the assets seized by the Met when they arrested Mr Dariye in October 2004 were $235,000 in cash (repatriated to Nigeria last month), several expensive pens and a solid gold mobile phone.

In May this year the Nigerian government obtained a judgement granting them the $850,000 proceeds from the sale of a London property he owned, and in June they also obtained a judgement in their favour of the $5.7 million (including accumulated interest) seized from Mr Dariye's UK bank accounts.

Britain's role

Given the numbers of corrupt African politicians who divert money to the UK, funding from the Department for International Development (DFID) has been made available to set up a cross-departmental police unit known as the International Corruption Group (ICG).

DFID says the ICG is one of the major components of the government's strategy to reduce corruption in developing countries.

"The UK has a duty to ensure the corruption is stamped out and we are fully committed to helping... through such initiatives as the ICG," Secretary of State Douglas Alexander told the BBC News website.

Under the ICG umbrella there is now close liaison between the Metropolitan Police, the Serious Organised Crimes Agency (Soca), the City of London Police and the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) who between them have the tools to tackle differing types of economic and financial crimes with an international dimension.

Even though no Nigerian official has yet faced trial in the UK, the Met says the operation is already a success.

"We are working with the Nigerian authorities to help break the myth of invincibility they (corrupt officials) enjoyed thanks to immunity while in office," said DCS Trevor Shepherd.

And in spite of the desperate measures undertaken by the suspects, who seem to have unlimited funds to deploy in their defence, the Met says there is no escape.

"There is nowhere to run, nowhere to hide," DCS Shepherd said. "Our investigations will continue until there is sufficient evidence to bring them to court. Any Nigerian politicians trying to launder money through London should not be sleeping easily in their beds."

The main obstacle to successful prosecutions appears to be the murky but binding ties between the corrupt officials of former regimes and the politicians now in positions of power.

Mr Dariye certainly seems to believe he can count on mercy from President Yar'Adua, as does James Ibori, currently taking refuge in the United States, who reportedly met the president on the fringes of the UN General Assembly in New York last week.

Observers say that Nigeria still has to overcome a culture in which political office is seen as bringing huge rewards and where political allegiances matter more than honour or honesty.

But that culture may be changing as shown by the recent outcry over the $5m expenditure by the speaker of the National Assembly.

A new generation is questioning whether Nigeria can any longer tolerate the seemingly insatiable greed that has bled billions from what should be one of Africa's richest countries.

The question is whether they yet have enough strength to take on the "old guard" and their vested interests.

Robot  Villager

# 1 Nigerian anti-graft war teeters By Anita Coulson, BBC News ...Read the full article. Posted by Robot| 04.10.2007 13:24

surulere007  Villager

# 2 Score Board AGF 2 - EFCC 0 Posted by surulere007| 04.10.2007 13:30

toksyleigh  Villager

# 3 Score Board AGF 2 - EFCC 0 Surulere07 I hope you meant: Progress for Nigeria 0 Musa Yar Adua 2 Wonders shall never end, it is bad enough that the Nigerian Government under Musa YarAdua is not willing and ready to punish these corrupt ex-Governors, his government is now subverting the cause of justice in another Country. I knew this Aoodanka guy was a fraud from the start, when he started fighting EFCC on Orji Kalu's prosecution, and for anyone that thinks that President Musa YarAdua did not know or sanction that letter Aoodanka sent to the British judge; all I can say is keep deluding yourselves. Yet we wonder why the British treat anybody holding our green passport like criminals. I guess it is now clear that the President of Nigeria and his Ministers are all 419 boys and girls (aka Mrs Etteh) and the victims are Nigerians. Strap on your patience belts NVS people, the remaining 3 yrs and 7months are going to be a hell of a ride and this is just the begining. God help us all, Goriola Abamieda Jnr. Posted by toksyleigh| 04.10.2007 14:14

I Love Nigeria  Villager

# 4 Rule of Law Tainted-Coated With Impunity? http://www.chatafrikarticles.com/articles/958/1/Rule-of-Law-Tainted-Coated-With-Impunity/Page1.html Posted by I Love Nigeria| 04.10.2007 14:21

JAGA-JAGA  Villager

# 5 ANACONDA has no where to hide again! He has been exposed. We can now see the cash and carry RULE OF LAW and the brother DUE PROCESS in action. Posted by JAGA-JAGA| 04.10.2007 14:22

surulere007  Villager

# 6 I cry for our beloved Nigeria! With Attorney General like Michael Aondoakaa looting of treasury will go unabated and EFCC will be rendered ineffective (otherwise what's the use of fighting lost battles) On the other hand, I believe the AGF is preparing for retirement but he might soon find out too late that as gold fish has no hiding place so does criminals. Show me your friends and I'll tell all about you ...so much for due process. Posted by surulere007| 04.10.2007 14:58

ojemba  Villager

# 7 This issue is very clear to any discerning person as the fault lies with the prosecution and nobody else. I don’t see how a letter from an attorney general of a foreign nation can over rule competent evidence in a criminal case of money laundering in the UK. This publication is just an attempt at obfuscation by the BBC perhaps to cover the ineptitude of the Metro policed detectives who sought to prosecute a money laundering case without doing their homework. No British magistrate/judge worth salt will set you free on account of a letter from even Yar Adua. I do not see what the AGF did wrong in his letter, his response that Ibori was not indicted or facing criminal prosecution in Nigeria is the true position. He even indicated that the man was a subject of investigation. Counsel sought his clarification on his client status and he responded truthfully, unless you are saying he should lie about the true position of things. The question is, why has Ibori not been charged to court by the EFCC all this while? The real fault lies in the incompetence of the Metropolitan police officers who rushed the case to court without evidence from the EFCC. Better still if Ribadu had charged Ibori to court like he did to Kalu and co then the response from the AG would have indicated that Ibori was facing criminal charges for corruption in Nigeria and would not have been helpful to him in court. It is a huge shame that many months after EFCC announced publicly that likes of Ibori have a case to answer they were still not able to provide enough evidence to help indict the man. To think that the only evidence tendered before the court was a false declaration of asset is just shameful. The moral of the story here is that EFCC may have been sleeping on the switch when it comes to gathering evidence for this case. It appears Ribadu has been fighting corruption on the pages newspapers as opposed to gathering proper evidence to prosecute the criminal politicians. Unfortunately extra judicial tactics do not fly in the civilized world so they need to get in line with modern crime fighting methods as opposed to what is currently attainable. It should not surprise anyone that there is no evidence against Ibori, after all the same Ribadu has asked the citizens to produce the evidence against, OBJ, Anenih and Bode George, so you can imagine what will happen when these folks finally have their day in court. Posted by ojemba| 04.10.2007 16:28

churchill  Villager

# 8 To me the most interesting part of the whole story is that Nigerians are waking up and asking questions and condemning corruption and corrupt practices. “The question is whether they yet have enough strength to take on the "old guard" and their vested interests.” Are we prepared to take on the old guard and even the young recruits that are warming up? The fight against corruption is one that must be sustained from all fronts mo matter how mild or ineffective they may appear in the surface. That remains the only way forward. Posted by churchill| 04.10.2007 17:29

truthsayer33  Villager

# 9 Andy Uba and his close aide Professor 'democracy' IWU are still live and plotting to protect the interests of the lootocracy.They will do or die......and unfortunately it is Nigeria that they are tearing apart. This reminds me of that fake Rev King.....why is he still alive? What does he know? Posted by truthsayer33| 04.10.2007 18:36

VOR  Villager

# 10 The real fault lies in the incompetence of the Metropolitan police officers who rushed the case to court without evidence from the EFCC. Better still if Ribadu had charged Ibori to court like he did to Kalu and co then the response from the AG would have indicated that Ibori was facing criminal charges for corruption in Nigeria and would not have been helpful to him in court. It is a huge shame that many months after EFCC announced publicly that likes of Ibori have a case to answer they were still not able to provide enough evidence to help indict the man. To think that the only evidence tendered before the court was a false declaration of asset is just shameful. GBAM GBAM GBAM. Let us start asking the EFCC to stop fighting the war on corruption in the media and get down to the nitty gritty work. I wonder how any letter from the AG would have stopped the judge from ordering the continued seizure of Ibori's asset if the EFCC, working with the Met police had provided a solid case. Even the head of interpol does not spend as much time in the media as this Ribadu man. :rolleyes: Posted by VOR| 04.10.2007 19:01

---

The conversation continues in our forum. Click here to read all comments

---