19 Nov 2007 |
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Dateline: New York, November 18, 2007 Click to read/download the letter: http://www.nigerialinks.com/pdf/AG-Ibori1.pdf Despite declarations by Umar Yar'adua that his regime won't shield any corrupt public officials, Saharareporters has discovered that Nigeria's Attorney General, Michael Aondoakaa, tried desperately to scuttle the money laundering case against former Governor James Ibori in a London Appeals Court. Last Thursday, three justices of the Appeal Court of the Criminal Division in London ordered that Ibori's worldwide assets remain frozen as the London Metropolitan Police pursues a money laundering investigation against Ibori.
But Saharareporters have learnt that Ibori's pricey lawyers at Speechys Birscham were once again helped by the Nigerian attorney general in their effort to get Ibori a reprieve from prosecution. Ibori's lawyers had made spirited arguments before the appelate justices, not on the grounds of their client's innocence, but the illegality of his trial in England. Ibori's lawyers tried to fault the appeal by the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) against the October 1 ruling of the Southwark Crown Court that had earlier discharged a restraint order against Ibori's worldwide assets worth $35 million.
As Saharareporters reported, the key ingredient to the vacation of the restraint order by the Southwark Crown Court was a legal maneuver that hinged on a letter secretly written by Attorney General Michael Aondoakaa in which he informed the judge that Ibori was not a target of any criminal investigation in Nigeria. The letter as well as a UN pass granted to Ibori as a member of Yar'adua's official delegation to the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) left the Southwark Crown Court judge with little option than lifting restrictions on Ibori's assets. Armed with Andoakaa's letter and the UN pass, Ibori's lawyer's had successfully portrayed the ex-governor as a first class citizen of Nigeria with clean hands.
But an appeal by the Crown Prosecution Service threw a wrench in Ibori's scattered victory parties around the world. The Delta State government led by Ibori's cousin and co-accused, Emmanuel Uduaghan, hurriedly packed up candles from the cathedral where a lavish Thanksgiving Service was held in Delta State.
Ibori also fled from the US, where the Department of Justice had started compiling a case against him, and returned to Nigeria. Before leaving the U.S., he had met with three top officers of the Nigerian Police Force who flew overnight from New Orleans (where they were attending an international police conference) into Los Angeles to assure him that he would be safely smuggled into Nigeria undetected.
Meanwhile, his lawyers in London went back to work, assuring James Ibori that the London Appeal Court would again decide the case in his favor. They urged Ibori to prevail on the Nigerian government never to sign the "Mutual Legal Assistance" treaty request by the Crown Prosecution Service, a request that has been at Aondakaa's desk since the end of August 2007.
The pressure brought upon Umar Yar'adua's illegal government after Saharareporters published Michael Aondoankaa's first letter to Ibori's lawyers forced Yar'adua to play the ostrich for a while. He declared that he was not shielding any former governors from prosecution and expressly invited the Metropolitan Police to return to Nigeria in order to gather needed evidence to nail Ibori in London.
But as soon as the Metropolitan Police detectives arrived Nigeria, Mr. Aondoakaa took off to Singapore to attend the International Bar Association (IBA) conference. This trip enabled him to avoid the task of approving a request by the Crown Prosecution Service(CPS) to invoke the Article 3 of the Mutual Legal Assistance on Corruption with the UK.
Also as the London Police investigators arrived in Nigeria, the Delta State government, working with one Justice Gloria Okeke of the Federal High Court in Benin, obtained an ex-parte order that prohibited the EFCC from arresting Ibori and his former looting collaborators in Delta State.
The bizarre court order--which was later vacated—also effectively barred the EFCC from investigating the accounts of the Delta State government between 1999-2007, the period when Ibori held sway as Delta State chief executive.
By Aondoakaa's calculation, the exparte order would drag on and frustrate the visiting Metropolitan Police detectives , though he publicly fought the order in conjunction with the EFCC, his public outburst via a speech given to lawyers at a national conference complaining that London prosecutors didn't have sufficient evidence against Ibori gave him away easily.
As the hearing before the High Court in London drew nearer, Ibori's lawyers worked on the assurance given by Aondoakaa and Yar'adua that they would not assist the Metropolitan Police and the Crown Prosecution Service in any significant way by invoking the Article 3 of "Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty".
Ibori's lawyers went into the November 13 hearing at the High Court on with great confidence. The reason was that Michael Aondoakaa had provided them with another "joker" to ensure their victory over the prosecution.
Curiously, Michael Aondaokaa quickly fired a reply to a letter the Crown Prosecution Service had written to him in on August 30th 2007. Aondakaa's letter, dated November 12 2007, and addressed to the British Home Secretary, declared that Officer David M. Williams, a Crown Prosecutor with the Fraud Prosecution Service who earlier sought the Attorney General's mutual legal assistance, was not competent to do so. On that ground, the AGF denied the request to invoke the Mutual Legal Assistance.
Before the letter was mailed out of Abuja, an assistant to Aondoakaa named Chioma Iheneacho, forwarded a copy of the letter to Ibori's lawyers on Thursday November 15 at 2:03 a.m. via a personal e-mail account. This was the adjourned date of the ruling over the restraint order.
Armed with this new letter, Ibori's lawyers tried, albeit unsuccessfully, to sway the Appeal Court justices by flashing their latest "joker." However, the judges refused to buy the ploy a second time. They ruled against James Ibori, re-instating the "restraint order" and ensuring that his prosecution will proceed.
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