The United States Department of Justice has ordered the seizure\u00a0\u00a0 of cash and assets belonging to former Delta State governor, James Ibori.<\/p>\n
They are\u00a0 more than $3 million\u00a0 and a mansion in Houston, Texas, U.S.<\/p>\n
The order was sequel\u00a0 application filed under seal on May 16 in U.S District Court in the District of Columbia, to register and enforce two orders from United Kingdom courts against more than $3 million in corruption proceeds related to Ibori.<\/p>\n
The Assistant Attorney General Lanny A. Breuer of the Justice Department\u2019s Criminal Division and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Director, John Morton, disclosed this in a statement on the U.S Justice Department website on Tuesday.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe application seeks to restrain assets and other proceeds of corruption belonging to Ibori and Bhadresh Gohil, Ibori\u2019s former English solicitor.<\/p>\n
\u201cSpecifically, it seeks to restrain a mansion in Houston and two Merrill Lynch brokerage accounts. U.S. District Judge Lamberth granted the application and issued a restraining order under seal on May 21.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe department was notified today that its application to unseal the restraining order was granted.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe United States is working with the United Kingdom\u2019s Crown Prosecution Service and the Metropolitan Police Service to forfeit these corruption proceeds,\u201d the statement said.<\/p>\n
According to the application, Ibori served as the governor of Nigeria\u2019s oil-rich Delta State from 1999 to 2007, and misappropriated millions of dollars in Delta State funds.<\/p>\n
He laundered those proceeds through a myriad of companies, intermediaries and nominees in several jurisdictions, including the UK, with the help of Gohil.<\/p>\n
Although Nigeria\u2019s Constitution prohibits state governors from maintaining foreign bank accounts and serving as directors of private companies, Ibori and his associates accumulated millions of dollars in assets in the UK and U.S, according to the application.<\/p>\n
Gohil was also convicted in November 2010 of money laundering and prejudicing a money laundering investigation and was sentenced by a British court to 10 years in prison.<\/p>\n
\u201cInstead of working to benefit the people of the Niger Delta, Ibori pilfered state funds and accumulated immense wealth in the process,\u201d said Assistant Attorney General Breuer.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe conspired with Mr. Gohil to funnel millions of dollars in corruption proceeds out of Nigeria and into bank accounts and assets maintained in the names of shell companies and nominees,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The United States Department of Justice has ordered the seizure\u00a0\u00a0 of cash and assets belonging to former Delta State governor, James Ibori. They are\u00a0 more than $3 million\u00a0 and a…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2052,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2051","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-exclusive"],"yoast_head":"\n