Fresh posers over AGF's letter and reprieve for Ibori
From Lemmy Ughegbe, Abuja
http://www.guardiannewsngr.com/news/article01
FRESH posers have been raised over the Federal Government's role in the reprieve received by former Delta State Governor, Chief James Onanefe Ibori, from a London court last week.
The Guardian learnt at the weekend that the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mr. Michael Andoakaa (SAN), on September 28 asked the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to give him details of its investigations on the governor.
However, the reply by the EFCC Chairman Nuhu Ribadu did not come until October 2, a day after the Southwalk Crown Court in London had vacated its order freezing Ibori's accounts.
Interestingly, a letter by the AGF to Ibori's counsel, Ian Timlin and Julie Thrower, declaring that the former governor was not under investigations in Nigeria, was, however, written on August 7. This was over one and a half months before he made the enquiry from the EFCC.
Ibori's legal team had made the enquiry from the AGF on August 4.
In his September 28 letter to the EFCC, the AGF sought information on investigations over Ibori to enable him respond to enquiries from the Metropolitan Police.
In his reply to the letter, the Chairman of EFCC, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, agreed to furnish the AGF with "relevant documentary evidence" as soon as possible.
However, it was clear that Ribadu could not have made any input before the London Court released Ibori's bank accounts and released some of his frozen assets as the verdict came on October 1, a day before EFCC's letter to the Attorney-General.
Aondokaa has come under heavy criticism with several groups calling on him to resign because the letter he wrote to Ibori's lawyer gave Ibori the reprieve from the British court.
Several groups even wondered why Aondoakaa would write such a letter without waiting for the EFCC which is the agency that has been investigating the former Governor ab initio.
The letter from the AGF dated September 28, 2007, entitled: "Re - Letter of Request From The Metropolitan Police on James Onanefe Ibori, Christine Omatie Ibori - Ibie, Adebimpe Pogoson and Udoamaka Okoronkwo," addressed to Ribadu reads:
"I am in receipt of a letter dated 30th August, 2007 from the Fraud Prosecution Service, an arm of the London Metropolitan Police, requesting for my assistance in obtaining certain information, statements and documents in relation to a criminal investigation being conducted by its officers in respect of some Nigerians and corporate bodies, including but not limited to the persons mentioned above.
"In view of the urgency expressed in the letter under reference, may I request you to immediately and urgently furnish my office with the under-mentioned details for onward transmission to the Metropolitan Police in line with the pith and substance of the Bilateral Treaty and Agreement concerning the Investigation and Prosecution of Crime and the Confiscation of the Proceeds of Crime of 1989 between the Federal Republic of Nigeria and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and the Northern Ireland as well as the Memorandum of Understanding of September, 2003 between the two countries."
The details requested for by the AGF from the EFCC include:
"A formal statement detailing out or fully outlining any criminal allegation against Mr. James Onanefe Ibori.
All relevant documentary evidence obtained in the course of enquiries or investigation by the EFCC in respect of any such criminal allegation, and
Details and particulars of bank accounts operated by James Ibori.
Ribadu's reply to the AGF's letter was dated October 2, 2007 and reads:
"Your letter of September 28, 2007 refers, please.
"We would assemble the relevant documentary evidence requested and revert to you as soon as possible.
"Please accept the assurances of my highest regard and esteem."
Meanwhile, The Action Congress (AC) has asked the EFCC to charge Ibori to court if it has any evidence of corruption against him, instead of using the ex-Governor's case to continue to blackmail and ridicule the office of the Attorney-General.
"Let the EFCC do its job by thoroughly investigating and charging the former governor, and if he is found to have corruptly enriched himself while in office, he should be made to face the wrath of the law," the party said in a statement issued in Abuja Sunday by its National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed.
The party said: "It is totally unacceptable that the EFCC and its band of attack dogs will continue to hound the AGF, ostensibly because the letter he wrote in response to a query on the former Governor led a British court to discharge an order barring Ibori from access to his assets.
"The two questions arising from this case are: Does the AGF have the authority to write such a letter? And did he lie in the letter? We contend the AGF was right in both cases. First he has the authority to write the letter he reportedly wrote on the case, and he did not lie when he wrote that the former governor was being investigated but not on trial in Nigeria."
The AC continued: "There is no proven nexus between the reply of the AGF and the decision of the British court to discharge the order against him (Ibori). Even if there is a proven nexus, is there any evidence that the AGF lied in his letter?"
It said the EFCC, which has been investigating several former governors on corruption allegations, should conclude its investigations and charge culpable ones to court.