V-mobile shares scam: Ibori’s trial begins - In London - Nigeria stalls release of 25 witnesses - Why ex-govs trial is slow.

V-mobile shares scam: Ibori’s trial begins - In London - Nigeria stalls release of 25 witnesses - Why ex-govs trial is slow

Taiwo Adisa, Group Politics Editor and Jackson Udom - 20.09.2009

A fresh round of crisis has blown into the open between the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice (AGF), Mr. Mike Aondoakaa and the Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) over the release of witnesses demanded by London Metropolitan Police in the trial of the former governor of Delta State, Chief James Ibori in the $1.6 billion V-Mobile shares scandal saga.

Presidency sources informed the Sunday Tribune that the source of the feud between Aondoakaa and Waziri this time is the refusal of the Nigerian Attorney General to furnish the EFCC with the required Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty (MLAT), required to transfer the 25 operatives to London to enable them testify in the case against Ibori.

It was gathered that the Metropolitan Police had communicated with the EFCC last week and relying on the collaboration between the two countries on money laundering matters, the London Police authorities requested the EFCC to produce the 25 operatives who could serve as witnesses in the case against Ibori in London which begins tomorrow.

A Presidency source said, “Reports reaching us indicate that things have gone out of hand between Aondoakaa and Waziri over this shares sale saga. The woman has informally hinted the Villa that the AGF is blocking the release of MLAT needed to prove Nigeria’s seriousness in having the case prosecuted in London. But so far the AGF is sitting on the release of the document. The presidency is taking a look at this controversy.”

It was gathered that the London Police has gathered evidence to link Ibori with the claim of money laundering in relation to the shares proceeds and that they only needed the 25 Nigerian officials to corroborate the evidence in court.

Sources said that the release of the officials to Metropolitan Police and their appearance in court will be beneficial to both Nigeria and Britain as it would help other cases the EFCC is currently investigating.

“We have been made to understand that the UK has exclusive evidence on the Ibori case, we do not want to play politics with this, because the name of the President is being dragged to the saga from some quarters. The president will not shield anyone over corruption and that is why I can assure you that the last has not been heard on this,” another source said on Saturday.

The AGF had last week stirred the hornet’s nest when he unilaterally declared the trio of Ibori, the former governor of Lagos state, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu and former governor of Akwa-Ibom state, Obong Victor Attah have been cleared of any wrongdoing in the shares scam, the London Metropolitan police is going ahead with the trial of Ibori on the matter.

The EFCC has also objected to the clearance given to the three former governors by Aondoakaa.

Investigations revealed that EFCC operatives were angry to read in the newspapers that the AGF has cleared the governors, especially Ibori.

Sources said that the AGF had muddled up the facts in order to paint a picture that the governors have been cleared.

First it was gathered that Tinubu has nothing to do with the case at hand, but that his name was deliberately included to keep the Action Congress (AC), which is known for its virulent criticisms of the government at bay.

It was also gathered that the clearance referred to by the AGF has to do with the African Development Finance Incorporated (AFDI), a company which was initially linked with the shares scam.

It was gathered that some sources in V-mobile had informed the EFCC in the course of its investigation of the shares proceeds that the money was in an account in Access Bank.

EFCC promptly placed caution on the said account but investigations later indicated that the money in the said account belongs to AFDI and it was proceeds of brokerage fees paid by Akwa-Ibom to the company.

Said a source close to the Presidency: “When Akwa-Ibom State confirmed the payment, it was discovered that the money was legitimately earned by AFDI and not proceeds of the shares EFCC was looking for, so the account was released. But this has nothing to do with the shares proceeds and the investigation being carried out on Ibori and others by EFCC.”

It was gathered that the EFCC is already feeling frustrated by AGF’s conduct on this matter.

Sources had told the Sunday Tribune that Aondoakaa was in London at the end of last week in connection with the shares saga.

A source said he actually went on the trip to protest the decision of Metropolitan police to go ahead with the Ibori case when the Nigerian government had given the man a clean bill of health.

But another source said that the man was in London to present some papers in relation to a trade agreement and that he was due to attend sessions alongside the Nigerian Ambassador to the United Kingdom (UK).

Meanwhile more facts have emerged on why the Federal Government decided to clear former governors of Akwa Ibom State, Obong Victor Attah, Chief James Ibori, Delta State and Senator Bola Tinubu, Lagos State of the controversy surrounding the V-mobile shares.

Sunday Tribune gathered that the thinking within the presidency is that should the three former governors be made to face the consequence of their alleged action on the share sales, there is no way the image of the Presidency would not be dragged into the mess.

The source told Sunday Tribune that “it is not as if the Presidency is protecting the former governors but it had to do that to save the seat of power from the public embarrassment the shares scam would bring to it if the lid is finally blown open.”

It was also gathered that because of the roles one of the embattled former governors played in the installation of President Umar Yar’Adua in 2007, and the fact that the AGF is a close ally of one of those enmeshed in the shares sale scam, the presidency would go to any length to ensure that the former governor and the Presidency were not disgraced.

Sunday Tribune further gathered that the public clarification by the former Lagos State governor, Ahmed Tinubu on the shares scam, did not go down well with the Presidency. That clarification, it was learnt, has created a major moral burden for former governors Attah and Ibori, who are yet to publicly state their roles or otherwise in the sales of the V-mobile shares.

It will be recalled that since 2007, when the current national leadership came on board, some former governors have been dragged by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) before the law court on allegation of financial misconduct and money laundering while in office.

Two years down the line, none of the governors has been convicted or discharged on the allegations against them.

It was also gathered that some incumbent governors, with second term ambition, whose predecessors are currently defending themselves on alleged corrupt practices while in office in different courts are now under intense pressure from the Presidency. They are being pressurized not to further compound the problem of the predecessors because of the bad image the issue had already caused the party which produced them as governors.

Sunday Tribune further gathered that the body language in the presidency points to the fact that any incumbent governor who relishes in exposing the past of his predecessor, specifically by giving out unsolicited documents to the EFCC, would be paid back at the right time.