Former Delta State governor, James Ibori is scheduled to be released from HMP Huntercoombe tomorrow, having served 6.5 years of his 13 year sentence.
It’s the end of his sentence in the United Kingdom.
The latest information (last Friday pm) however, appears to be that the UK authorities have applied to have him remanded in custody.
The precise reason has not so far been disclosed by the Ibori defence team in detail, but appears to be related to his immigration status.
The UK Home Office is not releasing any information.
Legal experts however informs Elombah.com that as a foreign national, he is/or should ordinarily be deported back to Nigeria.
It is not known if Ibori is seeking to make any application to stay in the UK, which would be the only reason why he would be detained.
Elombah.com had reported that Ibori’s long running confiscation proceedings which was heard in September 2013 were effectively aborted by the Crown as His Honour Judge Pitts failed to reach a finding of benefit or theft from the Delta State.
These continued over a three-week period which heard evidence and closing speeches.
These however still continue, elombah.com has learnt.
In the meantime appeals against convictions have been lined up by all the defendants.
James Onanefe Ibori, former governor of Nigeria’s oil rich Delta state, was sentenced to thirteen years in jail by a London Judge for stealing government funds in Nigeria.
The Ibori and linked cases have been plagued by a political agenda led by the UK’s Department for International Development (DFID) which funded the Metropolitan Police, who officers were said by the Crown Prosecution Service to be corrupt.
The prosecutors Sasha Wass QC, Esther Shutzer-Weissman and David Williams have all been dismissed from the case for lying to the defence and the Courts.
The CPS is due to serve another batch of disclosure today.
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