Come out of hiding, EFCC tells Ibori

**Maaik** · 15th April 2010

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has pleaded with former Delta State governor, Chief James Ibori to come out of hiding to answer questions based on investigations on alleged money laundering during his tenure.

The EFCC had on Tuesday declared Ibori wanted over alleged N44billion fraud and other fresh corruption charges. But some newspaper advertorials alleged that he was declared wanted over an invitation by the EFCC which would not be due until April 17, 2010, thereby, making the declaration a political witchhunt.

In a statement signed by EFCC spokesman, Femi Babafemi, the anti-graft agency said that the ex-governor knew it had been searching for him for weeks and had gone into hiding.

“We need him to answer questions based on fresh allegations bordering on official corruption and money laundering. We therefore want to assure Chief James Ibori that the Commission respects the rule of law and individual rights and we will treat him with decorum as demanded by the law. “While assuring him that our action is not in any way dictated by any political consideration, we implore him that what is important to us and cardinal to the course of justice at this moment is that he should come out of hiding and honour our invitation,” the statement said.

In response to the newspaper advertorials accusing the anti-graft agency of political persecution against the former governor, the Commission said: “Chief James Ibori knows quite well that the EFCC has been looking for him for interrogation for over four weeks. When it was becoming increasingly difficult to locate him, the Commission decided to get in touch with officials of Delta State government to extend our invitation to the former governor through them.
“Precisely on March 22, 2010, our operatives investigating the case involving Chief James Ibori visited Delta and met with state officials in the Government House, Asaba to help the Commission get in touch with Chief Ibori to honour our invitation.

“Through the same state officials, Chief Ibori got back to our operatives on March 25, 2010, to ask that our operatives should return to Delta to interview him in the Government House instead of him coming to the EFCC Office, Abuja. “The leadership of the Commission rejected the trap and insisted Chief Ibori should honour our invitation by coming to our office in Abuja.

The statement further insisted that “It is obvious that Chief Ibori has gone into hiding since then. And as such, our decision to declare him wanted was based on our previous contacts with him and not on the letters being referred to in the advertorial. “We also like to state that it is presumptuous to express concerns about the Commission re-investigating a matter for which Chief Ibori had earlier been discharged by a court in Asaba. Our invitations to Chief Ibori have nothing to do with the case decided by the Asaba court as the Commission has already appealed that ruling,” the statement noted.