Ex-DIY store cashier jailed for corruption in Nigeria

A bizarre news story of an ex-Wickes cashier who has been put in prison for 13 years for corruption and theft has hit the headlines this week.

James Ibori, who worked for the DIY store in Ruislip, London when he lived in the UK in the 1980’s and who was convicted of theft from the shop, then went to live in Nigeria where he became the governor of Delta state. It was while he was governor that he has reportedly committed fraud totalling nearly £50 million.

The court in Southwark heard how while governor between 1999 and 2007, he systematically defrauded the people of the Delta state and in particular fraudulently obtained £23 million in the sale of the state’s share of a Nigerian phone company.

Judge Anthony Pitts said in court “You lived modestly in London in the 1990s and no-one I think hearing at that time would imagine the multi millionaire high profile governor that you became some eight or nine years later.”