Ibori moves to strike out London case

As was widely expected, lawyers to James Ibori and his associates in the UK have now moved to strike out the money-laundering charges against associates of the former Delta State governor at the Southwark Crown Court in London. At the first mention today, the judge handling the case gave directives for a full hearing scheduled for Monday and Tuesday next week, the 25th and 26th of January 2010. Ibori is asking the judge to quash the charges against his associates and wife because the case against him at the Federal High Court in Asaba has collapsed, and the case in London should follow suit as a consequence. In detailed reports, Saharareporters had revealed how the former Chief Judge of Nigeria, Justice Abdullahi Mustapha, the attorney general of the federation and minister of justice, Michael Aondokaa as well as a judge of the federal court of appeal, Justice Amina Adamu Augie colluded with Ibori to set up a high court in Asaba paid for by the Delta State government and staffed by Ibori. The judge in the case Justice Mercel Awokulehin was paid $5 million to quash the case. The course of the new motion tallies with the plan of Nigeria’s Attorney General, Aondoakaa and James Ibori, to frustrate all manners of criminal charges brought against Ibori in Nigeria and the United Kingdom. In recent months, Ibori had also hired a British Member of Parliament, Tony Baldry, a lawyer by profession but a politician and businessman with extensive business interests in Africa, to interfere in the case within the British judicial system. In September 2009, Mr. Baldry wrote scathing letters to the office of the Attorney General in the UK excoriating the office for engaging in the trail of Ibori and his associates in London, conveying the impression Ibori is being persecuted, not prosecuted.

Prime Minister in Zimbabwe Boycotts Unity Government

HARARE, Zimbabwe (AP) -- Zimbabwe's prime minister on Friday withdrew, at least temporarily, from a coalition government with hard-line President Robert Mugabe, setting back already troubled efforts to end Zimbabwe's political and economic crises and international isolation.
Morgan Tsvangirai said he is withdrawing because of ''persecution'' of a top aide, Roy Bennett, the prime minister's nominee for deputy agriculture minister. Bennett is being tried on charges linked to long-discredited allegations that Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change party plotted Mugabe's violent overthrow.
''We are not really pulling out officially,'' Tsvangirai said, but made clear his party members would not attend Cabinet meetings or engage in other executive work with Mugabe's ZANU-PF party. The Movement for Democratic Change would continue parliament activities.
Friday's move demonstrates deep unhappiness within the MDC with the coalition. But Tsvangirai has repeatedly said he sees the coalition as the only way to ensure Zimbabwe's future, and he underscored that view by stopping short of bringing down the government by pulling out altogether.