Economic and Financial Crimes Commission has listed its inceptive Chairman, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu as a star witness to testify against the former Governor of Delta State, Mr. James Ibori.
Ribadu had in an affidavit accused Ibori of giving him $15m in 2007 in a bid to dissuade the former EFCC boss from initiating any case against him. However, after receiving the cash, Ribadu had entered it into evidence after which it was kept in the vault of the Central Bank of Nigeria.
According to Saturday PUNCH, Ribadu had said, “Ibori approached me with $15m to stop his investigation. The money was brought in sacks. I called my people because the money was in big bags, which two people could not carry and we deposited it in the CBN as evidence against him.”
In July 2012, the EFCC approached a Federal High Court in Abuja, requesting for a final order forfeiting the $15m Ibori bribe which had been in the vaults of the CBN for more than five years to the Federal Government as unclaimed proceeds of crime. Justice Gabriel Kolawole on October 25, 2013, awarded the Federal government ownership of the $15m Ibori bribe which was the subject of legal tussle between the EFCC and the Delta State Government.
When asked to react to information that the Attorney General of the Federation had listed him among the Federal Government’s list of witnesses against Ibori, Ribadu said, “I am not aware. But if I am asked to testify, I will. But like I told you, nobody has contacted me”, according to Saturday PUNCH.
However, after the ex-governor was released on Wednesday, December 21, 2016 from a UK prison, EFCC is expected to amend the charges brought against him in order to avoid a case of double jeopardy.
Written by Osiri Ndukwe
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