James Ibori, who is currently in prison in the UK, is listed in the ‘Panama Papers’, the biggest leak of financial data in history.
A data leak by a Panama law firm selling offshore companies has exposed the alleged illegal financial activities of some of the world’s most powerful people.
The documents reportedly provide information on current and former leaders, as well as celebrities and others who allegedly laundered billions of dollars, evaded taxes and dodged sanctions with the help of shell firms abroad.
James Ibori
“James Ibori, governor of Nigeria’s oil-rich Delta State from 1999 to 2007, pleaded guilty in a London court in 2012 to conspiracy to defraud and money laundering offenses.
Ibori admitted using his position as governor to corruptly obtain and divert up to $75 million out of Nigeria through a network of offshore companies, although authorities alleged that the total amount he embezzled may have exceeded $250 million. Ibori, who received a 13-year prison sentence, used millions of dollars to support a lavish lifestyle that included six houses in London and a fleet of Range Rovers, Bentleys and Mercedes.
Mossack Fonseca was the registered agent of four offshore companies connected to James Ibori, including Julex Foundation, of which Ibori and family members were beneficiaries. Julex was the shareholder of Stanhope Investments, a company incorporated in Niue in 2003.
Ibori was also connected to Financial Advisory Group Ltd. and Hunglevest Corporation, although Mossack Fonseca’s files do not specify the exact nature of his connection.
In 2008, Mossack Fonseca received a request from the Seychelles government to produce documents as part of a probe by the Crown Prosecution Service, England’s principal prosecuting authority, of Ibori and alleged criminal activities. In 2012,
Ibori pleaded guilty in a London court to laundering and fraud charges. During court hearings in the United Kingdom, prosecutors claimed that Ibori opened a Swiss bank account in the name of Stanhope Investments through which millions of dollars were later channeled to ultimately buy a $20 million private jet”………thenewsnigeria
Some of the companies were purportedly linked to prominent African politicians with a former Delta state governor from 1999 to 2007, James Ibori, who is currently serving time in a UK jail, making the list.
At the world level, prime ministers of Iceland, Pakistan, the Saudi King; presidents of Ukraine, the United Arab Emirates, Argentina, the father of the British prime minister, the family of Azerbaijan’s president, cousins of the Syrian president and a close friend of the Russian president, all made the list.
The world’s best soccer player, Lionel Messi, is also found in the documents. The records show Messi and his father were owners of a Panama company: Mega Star Enterprises Inc.
This adds a new name to the list of shell companies known to be linked to Messi. His offshore dealings are currently the target of a tax evasion case in Spain.
The leaked data covers nearly 40 years, from 1977 through the end of 2015. It allows a never-before-seen view inside the offshore world — providing a day-to-day, decade-by-decade look at how dark money flows through the global financial system, breeding crime and stripping national treasuries of tax revenues.
Naij……..
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