Two private investigators were on Tuesday arrested for alleged £20,000 bribery in connection with the investigations into money laundering charges against former Delta State governor, James Ibori.

The officers, who were alleged to have been hired by Mr Ibori to find out what information the UK Metropolitan police had on him, were working for a company known as RISC Management run by a former Scotland Yard Detective Keith Hunter.

According to SKY News cable television report on Wednesday, RISC was hired by the law firm representing Mr Ibori.

It also quoted Mike Schwarz, a partner at Bindmans, a British Law Firm, as informing the Home Affairs Select Committee of the British parliament of possible cash payments made by RISC to sources who were “presumably police officers or those close to the investigation.”

Mr Schwarz stated that invoices at the firm’s disposal showed roughly half a dozen payments amounting to about £20,000 “over an eight- or nine-month period.”

The private detectives aged 53 and 58 were both arrested on suspicion of bribery as part of a “pre-planned operation that forms part of a long and complex investigation by the Directorate of Professional Standards (DPS)”, the report quoted Metropolitan Police as saying.

A statement from the force also said: “The Metropolitan Police Service is investigating an allegation that illegal payments were made to police officers for information by a private investigation agency.”

The former Delta state governor pleaded guilty at Southwark Crown court in February to a series of charges linked to the theft of money from the state treasury and fraud involving state-owned shares in a mobile phone firm.