Former governor of Delta State, Chief James Ibori, and incumbent Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki, have been reportedly named in the Panama Papers leak which is presently stirring controversy around the world. Ibori, who is serving a jail term in Britain for money laundering committed while governing oil-rich Delta State from 1999 to 2007, pleaded guilty in a London court in 2012.

A report this evening said he was mentioned in the Panama Papers, a report on 11 million leaked documents from one of the world’s largest offshore law firms.

Probably the biggest leak of data ever, the Panama Papers is a huge leak of confidential documents revealing how the rich and powerful use tax havens to hide their wealth.

According to the leaked data, 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.

During his court hearings in 2012 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 channelled to ultimately buy a $20 million private jet.

Another report said that Saraki, currently standing trial for alleged fraudulent declaration of assets before Nigeria’s Code of Conduct Tribunal, is also mentioned in the leaked Panama documents. Details of that are, however, still sketchy.

•Partly based on a Pulse.com.gh report. Photo shows Ibori in his British prison uniform.

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