News Africa Extended

News Africa Extended

Nigerian ex-governor to appeal UK graft conviction

Posted: 07 Oct 2016 12:36 PM PDT

James Ibori, a former Nigerian state governor jailed in Britain for corruption, claims the British police and lawyers involved in his case were themselves corrupt.

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London - James Ibori, a former Nigerian state governor jailed in Britain for corruption, is very likely to appeal against his conviction on the grounds that British police and lawyers involved in his case were themselves corrupt, a London court heard on Friday.

Ibori, who as governor of oil-producing Delta State from 1999 to 2007 became one of Nigeria's richest and most powerful men, is serving a 13-year sentence after pleading guilty in 2012 to 10 counts of fraud and money-laundering.

While in office, Ibori acquired luxury properties in Britain, the United States, South Africa and Nigeria. He is the most senior Nigerian politician to have been held to account for the corruption that has blighted Africa's most populous nation.

His jailing in Britain, where he had laundered millions of pounds and sent his children to an expensive private school, was hailed as a high point in the international fight against graft and an important signal to other corrupt politicians.

But his lawyer Ivan Krolick told Southwark Crown Court on Friday that Ibori was “95 percent certain” to challenge his conviction in the Court of Appeal based on documents that have only recently been disclosed to the defence by the prosecution.

At the same hearing, Stephen Kamlish, a lawyer for Ibori associate and convicted money launderer Bhadresh Gohil, said the documents showed there had been widespread police corruption followed by a cover-up that was still going on now.

The main allegation is that a police officer involved in the Ibori probe took payments for information in 2007 from a firm of private detectives working on Ibori's behalf. At the time, Ibori had not been arrested and was still in Nigeria, but knew that British police were investigating his finances.

Kamlish said prosecution lawyers had known there was evidence of police corruption but had failed to disclose it to defence lawyers. Krolick told Reuters on the sidelines of Friday's court hearing that Ibori did not know about the payments at the time.

Prosecution says convictions are valid

The police have said that the allegation was thoroughly investigated and that no one was arrested or charged, and no misconduct identified. The officer against whom the allegations have been made is still in active service.

The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), after a lengthy internal investigation, said in September it was confident that the convictions of Ibori and Gohil remained valid.

The CPS has said it found “material to support the assertion that a police officer received payment in return for information”. It did not use the word “evidence”, suggesting it did not consider the material in question amounted to proof.

But the CPS conceded in September that the material should have been disclosed to the defence, and handed over thousands of documents to defence lawyers. Those were the documents that Kamlish and Krolick were referring to in court on Friday.

Gohil has already filed an appeal against his conviction. Krolick said Ibori was likely to do so once his legal team had finished going through all the newly disclosed documents.

As is normal under British procedures, Ibori is due to be released in December after serving half his sentence, taking into account pre-trial detention. Gohil, a British former lawyer, has already been released after serving half of a 10-year term for his role in laundering Ibori's millions.

One of Ibori's lawyers told Reuters it was not clear whether he would be able to return to Nigeria immediately, because legal proceedings concerning the confiscation of assets of his, worth tens of millions of dollars, were unresolved.

They were supposed to have been resolved years ago, but have ground to a halt due to the allegations of police corruption and the prospect of Ibori taking his case to the Court of Appeal.

Reuters

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Professor: American killed in Ethiopia had bright future

Posted: 07 Oct 2016 12:33 AM PDT

An American researcher killed in a rock attack by protesters in Ethiopia this week was a talented scientist, family members and mentors say.

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Davis, California - An American researcher killed in a rock attack by protesters in Ethiopia this week was a talented scientist with a bright future, family members and mentors said on Thursday.

Sharon Gray, 31, was a leader in the study of how climate change affects plants, said Savithramma Dinesh-Kumar, chairman of Gray's plant biology department at the University of California, Davis.

"She's really an always-smiling slip of sunshine. She's a smart, energetic scientist," Dinesh-Kumar said. "She had a very bright future ahead of her. And everyone knew she was going to be the star in the plant biology research area."

Gray, a post-doctoral researcher, was in the East African country for a meeting to kick off a research project when she was killed on Tuesday. She was travelling in a car in the outskirts of the capital, Addis Ababa, an area that has seen months of deadly protests.

A family statement said Gray was "such a bright human being."

"Sharon was a passionate scientist, friend, spouse, sister, daughter, aunt, godmother, and a colleague," the statement said. "We are picking each other up and growing together in her absence."

The family has started a fundraising web page aimed at mentoring young women in science in her name.

Gray is the first foreigner killed in the massive anti-government protests that have claimed the lives of hundreds of protesters since November 2015. At least 55 were killed in a stampede last weekend when police tried to disrupt a demonstration amid a massive religious festival that has been followed by clashes between security forces and protesters.

The circumstances of the attack that killed Gray are still unclear, Dinesh-Kumar said. Another UC Davis professor who was in Ethiopia was shaken but not hurt and is returning home, he said.

The US Embassy on Wednesday attributed the death to head injuries from a rock thrown by "unknown individuals."

Gray earned her doctorate at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign in 2013 before moving to UC Davis with her husband, who is also a post-doctoral researcher. She was recently awarded a three-year National Science Foundation grant to study how growing levels of carbon dioxide affect plants.

She travelled to Ethiopia for her first meeting to discuss a separate research project she planned to conduct with the Netherlands Institute of Ecology and charitable organisations.

The US State Department is assisting Gray's family, said UC Davis Interim Provost Ken Burtis and Mark Winey, dean of the College of Biological Sciences, in a message to the campus community.

"On behalf of the entire UC Davis campus, our hearts and condolences go out to Sharon's husband and extended family," they wrote. "Even in tragedy, we hope that we all can find some comfort in the wonderful work Sharon was engaged in that will better the lives of so many around the world."

AP

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