Ibori Claimed 30 Per Cent Shares In Oando, British Prosecutor Tells Court

Jailed former governor of Delta state, James Ibori told a Swiss private bank in 2004 that he owned 30 percent of oil firm Oando, which paid $1.2 million into his account that year, a prosecutor told a British court on Tuesday.

Prosecutor Sasha Wass told Southwark Crown Court on Tuesday that in 2004, Ibori had opened an account at Lugano-based PKB in the name of a shell company called Stanhope Investments.

Quoting from internal PKB documents, Wass told the court that Ibori had presented himself to the bank as the owner of an insurance company, half of a bank and 30 percent of Oando.

Oando said on Monday that Ibori had only an “insignificant” holding in the firm.

Reuters reported that details of Ibori’s assets and how he kept them hidden from the public gaze through a web of shell companies and foreign bank accounts are being disclosed as part of a three-week confiscation hearing which began in London on Monday.

Ibori was jailed for 13 years in Britain after pleading guilty in February 2012 to 10 counts of fraud and money-laundering worth 50 million pounds.