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London Court Grants Ibori’s Wife Bail
Wife of former Delta State Governor, Mrs Nkoyo Ibori was yesterday granted bail by the Westminster Magistrate court in London .
Mrs Ibori who appeared in court yesterday over charges connected to money laundering was admitted to bail by the trial judge. Part of the bail conditions include that she leaves her international passport with the court and the sum of 250,000 pounds.
It could not be ascertained if she had met all the bail conditions, but at the time of filing this report efforts were still being made to meet the monetary aspect of the bail conditions.
A statement issued by the media aide of the former governor, Mr Tony Eluemunor however condemned the stiff bail conditions on the ground that others mentioned on the charge sheet got a mild bail condition.
The stament reads:
"This stiff bail term both saddened and angered Chief James Onanefe Ibori, Nkoyo's husband, as others mentioned in the same charge sheet with his wife had appeared in court earlier and got comparatively mild bail terms.
“The court ruling came around 3pm and machinery is already in motion to meet the bail term. The Ibori family is also muting the idea of appealing against the court decision, which also asked her to leave her passport with the court. The others mentioned in her charge sheet, who had earlier been granted bail, were not asked to drop their passports.
"Numerous Nigerians have been calling to express their anger and surprise at this unprecedented stamping of fresh and harsh bail terms on Mrs. Ibori, who voluntarily reported to the London Police on time, for six months. Yet, Tuesday May 20th, she received a treatment meant only for a bail defaulter.
"An explanation for this by some of the callers, is that certain Nigerians are behind this latest onslaught against Chief Ibori's family because of politics, and have not seen anything wrong with targeting his innocent wife, who is not even a politician.
“They said that the arraignment of Mrs. Ibori in London on May 19th, after she had been reporting to the Police there since six months ago, is directly linked with the recent happenings back home.
“They justified this assertion by pointing out that all the four charges against her, as released to the press by Chief Ibori himself, adds up to this: "between May 1999 and March 2003 you conspired together with (three others) to conceal, disguise or transfer property or remove it from jurisdiction for the purpose of avoiding prosecution, knowing, suspecting that the property constitute a personal benefit from a criminal conduct.Nothing more.
“There is no direct allegation of any crime committed. Or of money transfer from a point to another. Or of any public property unaccounted for. There is no direct allegation whatsoever; all that exists is a nebulous omnibus run of the mill charge to conceal, disguise or transfer property that should come handy if the Police wants to hold on to somebody at all costs.
“This has now become Mrs. Ibori's lot, as she is caught in the cross fire of Nigerian politics as certain entrenched interests are pitched in a fight against her husband.
"Yet, Ibori remains supremely confident that in the end, his wife will emerge triumphant, and the smear campaign against him and his family will crumble, by the grace of God".
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