By OKECHUKWU PEACE
Former governor of Delta State, James Onanefe Ibori was immediately rearrested after he completed his prison terms in the United Kingdom.
ExpressNG learnt that he was released from Her Majesty’s Prison in Bedford, outside of London, where he finished his prison term. He was also initially at the Long Lartin Prison in Worcestershire.
“He is out of here”, a prison source at Bedford confirmed on Tuesday night.
Ibori was bagged a 13 years jail term in April 2012 by a Southwark Crown court in London was released by prison authorities on 22 January.
Our sources said Ibori was re-arrested to face another charge, which borders on the confiscation of his ill-gotten assets, estimated to be about 250 million pounds. The case initially billed for May, will now come up in June, sources told us this afternoon.
Ibori’s new prison could not be immediately confirmed as at press time.
Fifty-seven year old Ibori was jailed for using UK financial institutions to launder hundreds of millions of pound sterling he stole from public funds in Delta State.
His journey to jail began with his arrest On 13 May 2010 in Dubai, United Arab Emirates under Interpol arrest warrants, issued from United Kingdom courts and enacted by the Metropolitan Police.
Before his conviction, UK juries two years earlier found James Ibori’s sister, Christine Ibie-Ibori and his mistress, Udoamaka Okoronkwo, guilty on counts of money laundering, in a verdict delivered at the Southwark Crown Court, London.
On 27 February 2012, Ibori himself was docked, accused of stealing US$250 million from the Nigerian public purse. He pleaded guilty to ten counts of money laundering and conspiracy to defraud.
Also jailed with him apart from his sister and mistress were his wife, Theresa Nkoyo Ibori, his lawyer, Bhadresh Gohil and his financial advisors, Daniel McCann and Lambertus De Boer.
