The hope
that the former Governor of Delta State, Chief James Ibori, will be released
from prison in the United Kingdom this year, was dealt a serious blow on Monday
as the court adjourned hearing on the confiscation of his assets till next
year.
Ibori, who
served as governor of Delta State from 1999 to 2007, was jailed by the
Southwark Crown Court, London, in April 2012 for corruption.
Judge
Anthony Pitts after listening to the prayers of four parties on Monday at the
Southwark Crown Court, London, took what could be regarded as a ‘painful’
decision to adjourn the case which had been slated to commence that day to June
26, 2016.
His decision
to adjourn the case was hinged on three notable grounds.
First, was
the fact that if the case was allowed to proceed as scheduled, the six weeks
initially planned for the hearing would not be sufficient to conclude it.
Argument
started at about 2.21p.m. in court 8, when the prosecuting lawyer, Shasha Wass,
told the judge that since Brandesh Gohil, Ibori’s former solicitor has another
trial in January 2016, it would be logical for Gohil’s case to end before the
present hearing, in which Gohil is also expected to testify.
Gohil who
was also in court, but sat in the dock, only stood up when Judge Pitts
categorically told him that since there was a new trial date to join him in
Ibori’s case, there would be need for him to represent himself if the court
finds out that he does not have a representation before next year.
The second
premise was that of Udoamaka Onuigbo that was refused visa to appear before the
court to give evidence on the benefits Ibori received which are still being
contested by the Crown Court.
On the other
hand, Ivan Krolick, pleaded with the judge to consider the fact that the time
frame given to them to prepare their defence was too short and therefore asked
the court for an extension of one week to enable his team prepare adequately
for the hearing.
Based on
those submissions, the court momentarily adjourned for about 20 minutes to
decide on a common ground to hear the case.
However,
Wass argument was that both Gohil, Udoamaka and Ibori’s cases should be heard
at the same time, as that would give room for all the parties involved to say
what benefits they received from Delta State.
Gohil is
contesting his benefits, saying that he didn’t get as much as the Crown Court
thought, while Udoamaka appealed on the grounds that she over paid what the
Appeal Court had asked her to pay.
“Everything
is based on corruption. Gohil relied on press article to make nine grounds of
appeal. But his activity was investigated and documents found in his prison
cell and computer revealed that there were concerted efforts made to pervert
the course of justice.
“Gohil
forged documents to avert his sentence. Therefore the issue of benefits being
challenged by Gohil is that he is in the best place to know what he received,
and he is not disadvantaged to do so,” Wass said.
Shortly
after her submission, Mr. Kamlish, representing Gohil, told the judge that his
client did not fabricate any document as presented by Wass.
He insisted
that there was no evidence linking him to what she said, but because of the
complexity of the case, “we submit that Gohil has no hand in what is being
claimed. Therefore there is no way this case will end in six weeks time.”
Gohil’s
appeal is expected to be heard in January 2016 at the Southwark Crown Court.
But
Udoamaka’s lawyers, Mr. Ami Feder and Clare Leslie, argued that it would be
practically difficult for Udoamaka to appear in the hearing because her visa
application was denied.
“We have
approached the UK Boarder Agency and told them the importance of the case, but
no fruitful feedback. Except your honour can step in to intervene,” Mr. Feder
said.
Udoamaka is
also appealing an overcharge of £2.6 million she paid before her release in
2012.
Krolick, who
had told the court that he had been instructed not to ask for an adjournment
but seek to have at least one week extension, seems to be happy that an
adjournment came rather unexpectedly.
He initially
told Judge Pitts that he needed a week or 10 days to enable his team to go
through the list the Crown would have used in the trial.
They asked
the Crown to say categorically which area, index or direction they would base
their case on because dealing with 66,000 pages would be an enormous task.
Krolick
insisted that if the hearing had continued, they had made preparation based on
the document they already have, and that they have not had enough time to go
through the bunch of documents received from the prosecuting team due to short
notice received from them.
“This is not
our fault because you told the prosecuting team to provide us copies in
February. That was not done until a week before the trial. We worked hard to
get something done, but we haven’t had enough.
“The fact is
that this is not a straight forward case. I want to emphasise that I don’t want
to seek further adjournment in this case,” Krolick said.
But Wass
however told Judge Pitts that the material Krolick described was not new at all
and that it has been before the court but was simply put in bundles.
“This is
entirely fanciful to say it is new. They have spent £2millon working on Ibori’s
case. There is a composite bundle for each defendant and not the entire bundle.
If this case is adjourned, it will cost the public a huge amount of money. If
you adjourned the case, it becomes a manipulative practice by defendants to
use,” Wass told the judge.
Having
looked at the entire scenario, Judge Pitts then said there was need to
consolidate Gohil and Ibori’s cases and run them concurrently.
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