James Ibori Has Hidden Assets In OANDO Plc, Says London Prosecutors At Confiscation Hearing

The Southwark Crown Court in London heard today that the jailed former governor of Delta State, James Ibori, hid some of his assets in Oando, the wealthy Nigerian oil firm, and that funds were moved from the company's accounts into Ibori's Swiss accounts.

The court room was turbo-charged as prosecutors began a confiscation hearing to determine the amount of assets owned by the former governor. It was packed with journalists and some of Ibori's relatives, including his sister, Christie Ibie-Ibori, but Ibori himself was not in attendance.

But OANDO 's Corporate Communications Manager, Alero Balogun, said the company is a publicly traded one, therefore, the management doesn’t control transactions on the floor of the stock exchange.
She said: “We state categorically that Mr. James Ibori does not own ‘a large part of Oando’ and that this statement is incorrect and misleading. Oando is a publicly traded company listed on the Nigerian and Johannesburg Stock Exchanges and does not and cannot control the trading in its securities on the floor of the respective exchanges.

“Based on our current shareholding register, Mr. James Ibori’s shareholding stands at 443 shares out of a total issued and paid up share capital of 6.8 billion ordinary shares, which is clearly insignificant, and cannot be considered as ‘a large part of Oando.”

Oando also stated that “it does accept that sometime in 2004, in the normal course of its business, it sold some of its foreign exchange earnings for Naira and the recipient of the US Dollars was a company which has now turned out to be one controlled by James Ibori. At the time of the transaction, this information was unknown to Oando. The total amount was US$2.7 million made in three separate transactions over a period of about seven months. This amount was insignificant considering the company’s turnover of approximately US$800million in 2004.

“The above constitutes the only transactions between Oando and any company controlled by Mr. Ibori. Consequently, Oando cannot be described as a company where James Ibori has hidden assets as a result of these foreign exchange transactions.”

Culled from Sahara Reporters and Nation