You Knew Your Husband Was Dishonest, Court Tells Ibori’s Wife
Posted: November 5, 2010 - 18:10



By SaharaReporters, New York
Contrary to her claims that she knew nothing about her husband’s massive theft of Delta State’s resources, the prosecution in the ongoing money laundering trial of Mrs. Theresa Ibori has established that the former Delta first lady knew clearly that the funds with which she enjoyed a life of opulence came from dubious sources.

Mrs. Ibori had portrayed herself before the court as a submissive Nigerian housewife who knew nothing and never questioned her husband’s financial dealings and other secrets.

She had also claimed that she never knew, met or spoken to Ms Okoronkwo, believed to be her husband’s mistress, until the commencement of her trial.

But at Wednesday’s proceeding, the prosecution grilled Mrs. Ibori and indeed established that the account from which the former first lady drew huge funds for her lavish lifestyle was actually serviced by Ibori, through his mistress, Ms. Okoronkwo.

During cross examination, Ms Sassa Wass, the prosecution counsel put it to Mrs Ibori about Ms. Okoronkwo being her husband’s banker in the sense that Ms Okoronkwo had three companies which handled contracts at inflated sums in Delta State. The proceeds of the contracts were then funneled into Ibori’s overseas accounts.

The funds, the prosecution insisted, bankrolled Mrs Ibori’s extravagant lifestyle of chauffeurs, mansions, trips and holidays and also serviced a trust set up for her and her children – the Ganzi Trust.

It also pointed out to Mrs Ibori that the relationship between her and mistress Okoronkwo was not that of rivalry but that of “an accomplice or a partner in laundering Delta State funds.”

A form and a letter were shown to the court where Mrs. Ibori described Ms Okoronkwo as her personal assistance. But Mrs. Ibori denied ever writing, signing or dating any such documents. She suggested that either Mr. Ibori or Ms Okoronkwo forged her signature.

Mrs. Ibori and her husband had walked into a London Branch of Barclays Bank on February 2, 2004, to open a joint account so that Mrs. Ibori could go on to pay the family’s bills as the former governor cut down his visits to London.

Husband and wife lied in the forms they filled to open the account, the prosecution proved in court. Ibori gave an incorrect date of birth, claimed he had been working as governor since 1994 (instead of 1999) and cited his annual salary to be between 198,000 pounds and 360,000 pounds. Mrs. Ibori, on the other hand, claimed she was a Nigerian public officer at the time, which she was not.

The prosecution argued that Ibori had an account with Barclays Bank for a very long time but never credited it with funds embezzled from Delta nor was because he knew doing so would raise suspicion since the money he was stealing was far higher than the income he declared with the bank.

To conceal his theft, Mr Ibori used his lawyer to service his bills and other purchases of assets because funds coming from a solicitor are believed to come from legitimate sources.

There were a series of objections by the defence when the prosecutor asked Mrs Ibori if she knew why the former governor instructed a lawyer to handle and manage his even when he had an account.

Mrs. Ibori responded by saying she never questioned her husband on his affairs. The defence council objected to the questions, saying it was unfair for the prosecution to get Mrs Ibori to answer, speculate, account or explain her husband’s conducts.

Judge Hardy ruled against the defence, saying it was not out of place for Mrs. Ibori to explain her husband’s conduct since they ran a joint account and shared the same interest such as paying their children’s fees.

Ms Wass of the prosecution team then argued that in 2003 it was widely known in Delta State and throughout Nigeria that her husband was a “dishonest man”. She asked Mrs Ibori whether her informants who in 2003 fed her with information about her husband’s impregnated mistress, Uju, never told her that her husband was mismanaging funds and stealing from the people of Delta State.

In her response, Mrs. Ibori sided her husband by saying there was no evidence to that effect and that she did not believe that her husband was dishonest, claiming that in 2006 and 2007, it was a common rumour in Nigeria that every governor mismanaged funds.

The prosecution counsel also asked her whether, knowing Ibori’s reputation as a thief and a dishonest man, she questioned him with regards to the rumours. She said she did but that Mr Ibori stated that the Secretary to the State Government Emmanuel Uduaghan (Ibori’s cousin who is now governor) was the person in charge of funds approval and other state matters and that the people were merely peddling falsehood about him.

Evidence was brought to court of an account Mrs Ibori operated since January 2007 with AIDT in Colorado, United States. The prosecution believed that the account, which had $500,000, was also used to launder Ibori’s stolen funds. But she denied knowledge of the account, saying her signature was forged to open the account. She was also confronted with a letter of authority authorising payment into the account. She also denied knowledge of the letter.

The prosecutor counsel noted that Mrs Ibori had since the beginning of this trial painted herself as a victim of circumstance. She however argued that Mrs Ibori could not extricate herself from the allegations against her husband because she and her children benefited from whatever Ibori stole.

“How can she claim to be a victim when in fact she turned from an ordinary woman who was sharing a council apartment with James Ibori in London to a millionaire who lives in a multimillion pounds mansion, bank accounts filled with money, offshore accounts, multiple properties, and trust funds which contained millions of pounds,” Ms Wass asked.

But Mrs. Ibori claimed she never benefitted from dirty money, as it is her husband’s responsibility to cater for the family.

Since the beginning of the trial involving the Ibori clan, three different lawyers have defended Mrs. Ibori. The lawyers left because she could not pay her legal bills. A legal aid lawyer is now representing her.


http://www.saharareporters.com/news-page/you-knew-your-husband-was-dishonest-court-tells-ibori%E2%80%99s-wife

Let them be sentenced to life imprisonment.It will make the likes of Gbenga Daniel,Alao Akala,Uduaghan and others to get prepared for their last days.

Let them be sentenced to life imprisonment.It will make the likes of Gbenga Daniel,Alao Akala,Uduaghan and others to get prepared for their last days.

The point is they wont learn any lesson from it, they are hardened criminals with a stone heart. But a lost dog will never heed to the whistle of the hunter