Imminent Reprieve For Ibori
Bribery allegation against MET Police raises agitation for an independent investigation with the potential to impact the trial and conviction of Chief James Ibori, writes EDWIN ILEABOYA
A
reprieve has appeared in the horizon for the former Governor of Delta State,
Chief James Ibori and his lawyer-associate, Bhadresh Gohil following an
imminent independent investigation on the bribery and corruption allegation
leveled against the Metropolitan (MET) Police.
The
Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) is facing serious questions over an alleged
cover-up that could jeopardise the high-profile conviction of Ibori, now serving
in a UK jail. Former solicitor Bhadresh Gohil’s legal team made the claims but
Scotland Yard had reacted swiftly, saying that its investigation into the
claims found no misconduct. The team alleged that a police officer involved in
the Ibori inquiry had received corrupt payments from RISC Management, a private
detective agency that worked for Ibori. It had gone ahead to leak the documents
to media organisations and MPs on the Home Affairs select committee, for which
Gohil was instead charged for alleged perversion of the course of justice. Among
the documents circulated were what purported to be invoices detailing payments
to confidential sources – bribes for Metropolitan Police officers.The manner the case dramatically collapsed last month has raised a few eyebrows. The Crown Prosecutor, Ms. Sasha Wass had said the UK authorities were no longer interested in pursuing the suit against Mr Gohil. She further stunned the court when she said she was not at liberty to disclose the reasons behind the Crown’s decision to drop the case.
In court, defence lawyers alleged there was “clear and compelling evidence” of police accepting bribes in return for “unlawfully providing sensitive information” to private detectives. The CPS lawyers were accused of withholding key documents which could have proved police corruption.
Ibori’s profit from the turn of events is that Judge Testar immediately ordered that all the material the prosecution had withheld from the defence team be made available to Ibori and all his associates’ legal teams. The order also covers those of Ibori’s sister Christine Ibori-Ibie and an associate, Udoamaka Okoronkwo-Onuigbo.
The London Guardian in its report on the case titled “CPS accused of suppressing police corruption evidence” and published on Saturday January 23 said “criminal trial prosecutors have been accused of suppressing evidence of police corruption in what has been called “misconduct of a particularly serious nature.”
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