Dubai police have arrested a former Nigerian governor fleeing corruption charges, officials said Thursday, as authorities prepare to take the rare step of extraditing him to the U.K.
James Ibori, the former governor of oil-rich Delta State in southern Nigeria, was arrested in Dubai shortly after arriving there earlier this week, according to Dubai and London police as well as Nigerian antigraft officials.
Mr. Ibori was arrested at the request of the London Metropolitan Police, who want him extradited to the U.K. Mr. Ibori is suspected of "money laundering and conspiracy to defraud," a spokeswoman for the U.K. police said. In 2007, London police froze $35 million of his assets.
Also, there is no doubt that the new government in Nigeria will be seeking to clean up the country's corrupt reputation, and Mr. Ibori could prove a convenient test-case.
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