The trial of Mrs Theresa Nkoyo Ibori, wife of fugitive ex-governor, Delta State, Chief James Ibori open

at the UK Southwark Crown Court with revealing issues about the ex-governors criminal past, his playboy lifestyle and how he acquired the massive wealth for which he was now wanted for trial in London.

According toan online report, on Tuesday, the defence attorneys for former Delta State First Lady Theresa Nkoyo Ibori put her on the stand and asked questions that portrayed her as a mini-Mother Theresa, a woman cheated on, ignored and finally abandoned by her crooked husband, former Governor James Onanefe Ibori.

On her second day in the witness box, prosecution attorneys at the Southwark Crown Court had their opportunity to cross-examine Mrs. Ibori. At the end of their grueling questioning, they revealed Mrs.bori to be a criminally minded accomplice in an intricate web that involved extensive money laundering, a lifestyle of opulent luxury and comfort, and a corrupt rags-to-riches scheme.

Sasha Walsh, QC, led the team of prosecutors from the Crown Prosecution Service to cross-examine Theresa Nkoyo Ibori. In what an attorney in court described as a methodical and clinical job, the prosecutors started grilling Mrs. Ibori by taking up her statement that she was from a very humble background, born in Stoke Newington in London. She had earlier claimed that her family had to struggle for a living and that she had to take up a series of jobs in order to survive. She then spoke about how her study of management gave her a good understanding of accounting and figures. Under questioning, she testified that when she met Ibori in London, he was poor and had no money to his name, stating that they both got jobs at Wicks, a department store in London. Even though the prosecutors were not allowed to introduce Theresa Nkoyos prior joint conviction with James Ibori for stealing building materials at Wicks, they successfully goaded Theresa to admit that the Ibori convicted was the same man she married. This was a major coup for the prosecution, said a lawyer who observed todays proceedings, stating that Mr. Ibori had denied that he was ever convicted in the UK for theft prior to becoming Delta governor. Mrs. Ibori disclosed that her husband had always expressed an intention to go into politics in Nigeria. Once he became governor, the struggling girl from Stoke Newington suddenly found herself in the midst of legendary luxury. She told the Southwark Court judge and jury that she had more than 17 personal aides, including numerous security guards, when her husband ran one of Nigerias richest states. She also admitted in court that she and her husband owned a 3- bedroom flat in London that was recovered by credit agencies. But once James Ibori became governor, the couples fortunes changed and the Iboris, in the words of the prosecutor, became multi-millionaires, owning a home currently worth 5 million in the Dorset countryside of London.

In addition, the former governor and his wife acquired several homes in the UK, including an electronically gated home in Westover Hill, North London.

Prosecutors also revealed that, despite Mrs. Iboris efforts to feign ignorance of Iboris criminal activities and financial shenanigans, she became a beneficiary of a 3 million trust fund her husband set up for her. Prosecutors also compelled her to admit to ownership of a Mercedes Benz as well as other expensive cars including Chrysler Voyager (Peoples Carrier 2009 model), a customized Maybach car, Jaguar (2000). In addition, all her three children are in private schools and enjoy chauffer driven cars.

In a statement that made a Nigerian observer gasp in disgust, Mrs. Ibori claimed that they bought the 5 million Dorset home because one of their daughters could not travel for more than three hours at a time. To solve the problem, the Iboris decided it was proper to buy a house close to her super-expensive elite school.

Where Theresa had presented herself on Tuesday as a woman mistreated by her husband, the Crown prosecutors painted a different picture of her for the jury. They revealed Iboris plan to buy a house for one of his under-aged daughters and disclosed that he bought another property in highbrow 23 Abbey Road North London as a guesthouse to host friends.

When prosecutors disclosed Iboris purchased properties in Texas and South Africa, Mrs. Ibori claimed that she was not aware that her husband owned those properties. She said Ibori had always maintained that the house in South Africa belonged to a friend. Mrs. Ibori admitted that, whilst she was First Lady of Delta State, she had recruited a network of spies to spy on her husband because of his reputation for extramarital affairs. She told the court that Mr. Ibori engaged in a reckless acquisition of concubines.

Her most revealing testimony was on the relationship between Nigerias former dictator, General Sani Abacha, and her husband, who is in Dubai awaiting extradition to the UK to face money-laundering charges.

She told the court that her husbands meeting with Abacha changed his life and fortune. Prosecutors established in court that Ibori was arrested with $1 million in the USA, as earlier reported by an online source. Unable to explain the source of the money, Ibori struck a bargain with US authorities in which he forfeited $400,000, returning to Nigeria with $600,000. In court today, Mrs. Ibori admitted that her husband discussed the details of the US experience with her.

The prosecutors seized on that admission to make their case that she testified dishonestly when she told the court she was unaware of her husbands shady deals.

Theresa Ibori told the court that Mr. Ibori described himself as a political consultant for the Abacha regime, but prosecutors suggested that he was doing Abachas dirty work. Mrs. Ibori described Abacha as one of Mr. Iboris godfathers amongst many, but clarified that it was not the mafia type of godfather.

Numerous security sources had told Sahara reporters that Mr. Ibori and Abachas chief security officer, Al Mustapha, collaborated on assassinations of Abachas political opponents. Mr. Ibori has been accused of using his familiarity with Mr. Alfred Rewane to help Abachas killer squads to assassinate the Itsekiri businessman for bankrolling the National Democratic Coalition (NADECO). Prosecutors also undermined Mrs. Iboris claim that her husband forged her signature on documents, especially those relating to the purchase of properties. Prosecutors took her to task by showing that she knew what she was doing as she lived in some of the properties where she claimed her signatures were forged. Prosecutors also detailed Mrs. Iboris connivance with her husband who, in preparation for a political career in Nigeria, altered his date of birth in order to conceal his conviction for theft in London.

They provided details of how Mr. Ibori changed his date of birth from the original 4/08/1962 to a date in 1958, all as part of a welldesigned deceptive scheme to cover his conviction in the UK.

Theresa Ibori claimed she was ignorant that his conviction in a UK criminal proceeding did matter in Nigeria. She told the court she thought his conviction could not be used against him.

Prosecutors showed her a Nigerian newspaper report in 2003 in which Mr. Ibori celebrated his 45th instead of 41st birthday. They asked why Theresa celebrated her husbands 45th birthday in 2003 when she knew he was really 41 years old. The prosecutor asked, Was it because you were more interested in him becoming governor of Delta State and he needed to be 4 years older? Mrs. Ibori replied that African culture did not allow her to challenge her husband. But the prosecutors countered by bringing out another newspaper in which she was reported to have become angry at Mr. Ibori at a public function and had wanted to slap him. She admitted to being angry about his cheating ways and that she confronted him about it in public. Prosecutors used her admission of public display of anger to underscore the point that she was independent enough to confront Ibori. They further told the jury that Mrs. Ibori was more concerned about the spoils of office and thus returned to the office of First Lady of Delta State in 2003 after she had walked out of her marriage. A legal analyst in court added that the prosecutions line of questioning was aimed at portraying Mrs. Ibori as a liar and a gold digger who partnered with a criminally minded character but decided to feign ignorance and disown him once the law caught up with the duo. The Crowns cross-examination

By Onitsha Shedrack, Rukevwe Okoro,

It was high drama full with suspense and unbelievable revelations when, wife of the erstwhile Governor of Delta State, Mrs. Nkoyo Ibori, entered the witness box in another leg of the epic trial of the Ibori dynasty in a London Court.

Reliable information suggests that Nkoyo Ibori knew too well that the game was up. She knew that there was no hiding place for her and her husband, James Onanefe Ibori. Already, her sister-in-law, Christine Ibie had been convicted and is serving jail term. In local parlance, her mate, that is, Iboris mistress, Udoamaka, is also cooling her feet in a London prison having been sentenced over her handling of Iboris ill-gotten wealth.

Nkoyo, we learnt, came to court, ready to spit fire and make explicit but mind boggling revelations which have seriously indicted her husband and a top government official in Delta State who served as SSG under the Iboris

administration. Nkoyo is not prepared to go down alone. She knew that the case is an open one and that no amount of legal maneuver would be able to free her. The allegations against her are not novel. They are exactly the same for which Ibie and Uduamaka are already in prisons: Money Laundering, aiding and abetting stealing an official theft.

Nkoyos submissions so far in court have put Ibori in tight corners if he is eventually brought to London for trials. Those government officials also named by Nkoyo will also have cases to answer when they eventually leave office.

UK prosecutors trying former Delta State First Lady Theresa Nkoyo Ibori today painted a detailed portrait of Mrs. Iboris extensive role in her husbands looting of public funds. The prosecutors also implicated a former SSG and a close allied of Ibori in the multiple fraudulent deals through which Mr. Ibori looted the treasury.

Fridays closing statement was also a preview of the case that UK prosecutors are likely to make if they succeed in getting Mr. Ibori extradited to the UK from Dubai. Ibori recently appealed the ruling by a judge in Dubai that he should be sent to the UK to face money-laundering charges.

Lead prosecutor Sasha Wass, QC told the jury that Mrs. Ibori paid 2.2 million pounds in cash for a swanky home in Hampstead less than two years after her husbands inauguration as governor. Ms. Wass, QC told the jury that not only did former Governor James Ibori obtain the house by fraudulent means but also that Mrs. Ibori was aware of it since her husband puts her in charge of the transaction.

The Crown prosecutors described the fraudulent acquisition of the Hampstead property as the beginning of Mrs. Iboris rise to extreme wealth.

Ms. Wass asked the jury to consider the Iboris criminal record, including their conviction in the UK for petty theft a few years before Mr. Ibori maneuvered his way into the governors mansion in Asaba. Prosecutors also laid out how US authorities investigated Iboris million-dollar deposit in a US bank in 1994. She told the jury that US law enforcement agents concluded that Ibori lied when he claimed to have received the funds for consultancy work. As Saharareporters detailed earlier, Mr. Ibori forfeited $400,000 out of the $1 million to the US government.

A legal analyst in court told Saharareporters that the prosecution did a superb job of portraying Mr. and Mrs. Ibori as a tag-team criminal partnership. He added, Money is seized in the US only when theres probable cause or what UK law calls reasonable suspicion.

UK prosecutors told the jury today that Ibori only had to provide evidence of the legitimacy of the funds, but he opted to part with a huge chunk of it in order to settle the case. Ms. Wass stated that the transaction marked Iboris entrance into the criminal big leagues. She also observed that, contrary to Mrs. Iboris attempt to deny knowledge of Iboris criminal activity, the former First Lady was fully aware of her husbands illicit financial deals in the US as well as the UK.

Ms. Wass reminded the jury that Mrs. Ibori went along with her husbands decision to falsify his date of birth in order to conceal his criminal past and convictions in the UK. Under cross-examination, Theresa Ibori had acknowledged that she found her husbands action to be wrong, but said it was against the tradition in her adopted culture to challenge him. However, Ms. Wass reminded the jury that Mrs. Ibori had indeed challenged her husband on other issues.

Prosecutors revealed how Mr. Ibori made misleading declarations of his assets. He did not declare his foreign bank accounts. In 1999 he only declared his homes in Nigeria as well as a flat in Abbey Road, St Johns Wood area in London. For cash in bank, he declared a debt of more than N1 million while cash in hand was about N400, 000 thousand. In 2007, Mr. Ibori declared another house in London, but fraudulently understated its value. Even though the house was worth 3 million, Ibori declared it as worth 300,000.

Prosecutors accused the former governor, with his wifes knowledge, of systematically mis-stating the value of his property. They also told the jury that, by 2007, Mr. Ibori had added three more properties in the UK as well as homes in Texas and South Africa. He also had established a series of off shores trust funds in safe haven islands for himself, his wife and children. Yet, in his assets declaration form in Nigeria, when he was asked to indicate cash abroad, he entered non-applicable.

Ms. Wass revealed how Mr. Ibori established several companies, including MER Engineering, and used them as fronts to award contracts to himself. Iboris companies also received contracts and revenues from the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation. By 2007, Iboris wealth had become astonishing, said UK prosecutors. They pointed to the testimony of the EFCCs Yahaya Bello that Iboris mistress, Udoamaka Okoronkwo (nee Onuigbo), set up three front companies that tendered for and received numerous contracts during Iboris tenure as governor. Ms. Wass stated that the three companies belonging to the same person tendered for and competed for the same contract. The arrangement ensured that Iboris concubine who was fronting for him got the contract.

Investigators accused a Delta state official (name withheld) who prior to 2007 served as secretary to the state government (SSG), of facilitating the illicit deals. Most of the contracts that went to one of Iboris front companies Sagicom, Rivbed or Sigares were heavily over-inflated. Prosecutors revealed that most of the contracts were for N1.8 billion or above, including the supply of fine wine and beverages.

Ms. Wass disclosed that Ms. Okoronkwo was responsible for transferring the proceeds out of Nigeria where the funds were invested for Ibori. Ms. Okoronkwo was also often used as a conduit to pay for Iboris properties in the UK. It was revealed that, by the end of 2003, Okoronkwo had deposited more than 3 million in the trust fund that was meant to benefit Theresa, her children and Mr. Ibori. Sagicom was the corporate vehicle Okoronkwo used to channel the funds.

Prosecutors showed that Ms. Okoronkwo engaged in forgery of documents on her computer that Mr. Ibori then signed. The forged documents were meant to deceive bankers in the UK as well as safe havens around the world. Ms. Wass said that Okoronkwo worked for both James and Theresa Ibori, dismissing Mrs. Iboris suggestion that she and Udoamaka were fighting over Mr. Ibori. Instead, according to Ms. Wass, the two women helped the same man to siphon money that belonged to the people of Delta State and Nigeria.

On a day filled with legal drama, including defence protests that the prosecution had unfairly tarred Mrs. Ibori by tying her to the convicted Udoamaka Okoronkwo, prosecutors also pressed their case against Iboris attorney, Bhadresh Gohil. Mr. Gohil, who decided not to testify after observing the methodical way the prosecution dismantled Mrs. Ibori during cross-examination, was described as Mr. Iboris launderer-in-chief.

Our legal analyst said that prosecutors had done a forensic job on Mr. Gohil, showing him as a man who hid evidence in chimneys. He added that Mr. Gohil, described as smooth talking and highly educated, betrayed the depth of his fear when he refused to take the stand. The Crown prosecutors went to town, depicting him as a coward who could not face up to his deeds.

Mr. Gohil maintained a posh office in the West end area of London. Even though Mrs. Theresa Ibori had alleged that the documents found with Gohil were forged, Mr. Gohil seemed scared to take the stand and contradict her. I dont believe Mr. Gohil has any answers to the charges, said a lawyer familiar with the case. None of his defence would have withstood the blistering attack of the well-prepared prosecutors, he added.

Prosecutors portrayed Gohil as one who had betrayed his oath to protect the law. They accused him of maintaining a manual on how to launder money without being detected, adding that he used the money launderers spread sheet to help unconscionable looters like Ibori in direct contraventions of rule 15 of the UK solicitors procedure. Mr. Gohil is accused of lying to banks, police, and courts. He reportedly created secret safes to hide funds and documents, making him the perfect partner-in-crime for the Iboris.

The prosecution is likely to conclude its closing remarks next week Tuesday. Afterwards, Mrs. Iboris court-appointed legal aid lawyer as well as Mr. Gohils lawyer, Ian Winters, QC, will give their own closing statements. Judge Hardy is expected to sum up the case next week and the jury might begin deliberations on the case on Monday end of November.

These are really trying times for the once ebullient Governor of the oil-rich Delta State. His marriage to Nkoyo is not working as the woman is angry over many things. Since they left office, she has not experienced peace. It had been one trouble or another. The general feelings on the street is that if Iboris close associates are being locked up on money laundering charges, Nkoyo is not likely going to be free. Her outbursts at the last hearing in London were therefore confirmation of what the masses already knew.

What will be the end of this drama? If Nkoyo is jailed, that would be no news. Even the woman knew it is over for her. The looting spree that characterized the Ibori administration may have brought down the law of retributive justice on their heads. It is obvious more heads will roll. Iboris final conviction will be the climax of this epic drama that will either make or mar the Iboris political dynasty.