A former governor of Nigeria's oil-rich Delta state pleaded guilty in a British court Monday to charges of money-laundering, conspiring to defraud and obtaining a money transfer by fraud, officials said.
James Ibori, 49, entered his plea at Southwark Crown Court. He is to be sentenced on April 16.
Paul Whatmore of the Metropolitan Police Proceeds of Corruption Unit said Ibori's guilty pleas capped an inquiry which began in association with Nigerian anti-corruption investigators in 2005. Ibori was immune from prosecution in Nigeria between 1999 and 2007 when he was serving as governor of Bayelsa state, police said.
"We will now be actively seeking the confiscation of all of his stolen assets so they can be repatriated for the benefit of the people of Delta state," Whatmore said.
