Ibori's statement was contained in one of the documents read to the Director, Forensic Accounting, Mrs. Ros Stow, when she was cross-examined by the prosecutor, Sasha Wass, during the resumed hearing on the confiscation of his assets yesterday at the Southwark Crown Court in London.
Gohil was Ibori's first lawyer, who was also jailed by the court for conspiracy to make false instrument that involved money laundering, proceeds of crime and for setting up bogus companies designed to defraud Delta State.
Stow’s accounting firm was contracted and mandated to look into the prosecutor or defendant’s files for any criminal case against Ibori and deduce if the benefits derived were Delta State’s resources.
Sasha during the course of her interrogation of Stow as a witness, intuitively noticed that she (Stow) was not answering her questions accordingly and felt it was expedient to read some documents where Ibori pleaded guilty to all the charges put to him in the past by the Crown prosecutor.
It started this way: "Ms. Stow, are you aware that Ibori pleaded guilty with no caveat other than to blame his lawyer on his charges?" Wass asked Stow, who stood unshaken at the witness box.
Then Stow responded, "I'm not aware."
It was at this time that Sasha opened a bundle of documents to clarify Ibori's wrongdoings and how he 'sucked' Delta State dry.
She told the court that it was part of Stow’s expertise to look at the issue of money laundering critically and figure out where they were hidden and originated from.
She said the more sophistication money laundering is, the harder to ascertain owner.
Do you agree to this statement, she asked Stow.
Sasha said Ibori, through various means and using Gohil, who formed a lot of fictitious companies; his sister, Christine Ibori-Ibie, who was also in court and listened to the cross-examination with rapt attention, Udoamak Okonkwo, among others were instruments to all of Ibori's acts.
She also demonstrated to the court that the Crown prosecutor had not deviated in any way to say that the total sum the former governor stole remained unquantifiable. "Approximately, the £50million he pleaded guilty to is a fraction," Sasha said.
Stow, who apparently was dumbfounded as to the magnitude of the offence, said she found it difficult to tally everything because of the conflicting evidence she received and that some of the documents which would have aided her findings were missing.
Sasha said at the first instance, Ibori defrauded his state of £311million, V-Mobile of $37million and he pleaded guilty of money laundering in four different ways. These include £11.4 million, £3.78 million, £10 million and £790million.
Sasha revealed that Ibori, through his sister, paid off a property worth £160,000 within a year he became governor of Delta State.
Again, she said ADF, formed by Gohil on his behalf, defrauded Delta and Akwa Ibom States.
On MER Engr, Sasha said was entirely dormant since 1992, but in 2002 money started flowing in from oil companies such as Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and Chevron.
"Ibori was creaming in money from oil companies," Sasha said.
Sasha also told the court that FOREX deals were used to transfer money from Nigeria to other countries by Okoronkwo, who used a company called Countrywide Pay Master to exchange Naira into pounds sterling, which was deposited in HSBC in London which she said, amounted to £40,000 a day.
It was also revealed that a company called Currency Swap was used to transfer money from Nigeria, which was used to buy various properties for Ibori.
From the proceedings, it was gathered that there were a lot of companies and other activities that were deployed by Ibori to defraud his state.
Further hearing on the matter continues tomorrow.
However, Stow was first cross-examined by Ibori 's lawyer, Mr. Talbot Kennedy, before launch.
Source: Thisday
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