Currently serving jail term in London for corrupt practices, James Ibori is appealing against his conviction through calls for an independent investigation.
The former governor of Delta state is alleging police corruption and non-disclosure as grounds for his appeal. Tony Eluemunor, his media aide in a signed press statement yesterday said, “the importance of last week’s statement from the NCA was misunderstood by the Nigerian media, which screamed that Ibori’s conviction was upheld, as though an Appeal Court had ruled on the matter.
“In a press statement on Sunday, September 18, 2016, some TV networks had from Friday through Saturday published on their news bars the lie that a British court had upheld Ibori’s conviction.
“The NCA report simply confirmed explosive revelations of corruption and abuse of the British court process by the Prosecution Service, such as disclosure rules guiding British court procedures. The report is a damning and fatal indictment on the prosecution of Ibori and linked cases.
“The report, however, strangely concluded that the police officers’ corruption in the case and their withholding of material from the defence do not undermine the safety of the convictions. This surprising finding is at odds with the primary findings and so will now be tested to its fullest in the British courts. The question was whether there were malicious cover-ups and if the courts were misled; and the reports said yes, there were.
“Thus, at best, the report is another cover-up for an earlier one, and an attempt at media manipulation. But the Crown Prosecution Service cannot fundamentally determine whether the conviction is safe or doomed; only the courts can so determine. Also an independent investigation will be called to determine and document the police corruption and lack of due process level for posterity.”
Eluemunor continued: “Legal experts have confirmed that the Crown Prosecution’s position is untenable and flies in the face of all known constitutional safeguards and undermines every sense of fair and open justice. Corrupt police officers and the withholding of key material do not permit for a fair trial, and so the English legal system justifiably frowns at such.
“The case demonstrates the truly shocking behaviour of the British Crown Prosecution Service. Despite the overwhelming evidence of corruption by British anti-corruption officers, it continues to prosecute James Ibori and others when it now has in its possession evidence as to the source of his funds. It is believed that Ms. Saunders’s position is now untenable. As the Director of Public Prosecutions, she has engineered a shocking cover-up.”
Eluemunor pointed out that the September 16, 2016 BBC report written by Mark Easton, Home Editor was totally different from what appeared in the Nigerian media.
