20110416
reuters

LONDON (Reuters) - A senior politician in Nigeria's ruling party appeared in a British court on Saturday accused of corruption charges after being extradited from the United Arab Emirates, police said.

James Ibori, one of Nigeria's richest politicians and the former governor of the oil-producing state of Delta, was arrested almost a year ago in Dubai at the request of Britain's Metropolitan Police.

"James Ibori appeared at City of Westminster Magistrates' Court today charged with 25 offences relating to money laundering and fraud," a Metropolitan police spokesman said, adding he was remanded in custody to appear again on April 28.

He said Ibori, from Nigeria's ruling People's Democratic Party, arrived at London's Heathrow International airport escorted by British extradition warrant officers.

Ibori, who recently lost an appeal against his extradition, denies all allegations of corruption and says the accusations against him are political.

He was governor of Delta, one of three major oil-producing states in the impoverished Niger Delta, from 1999 to 2007 and continued to act as a powerbroker in the PDP thereafter.

A British court froze $35 million of his assets in 2007 on suspicion they were the proceeds of corruption and he is also wanted for questioning by Nigeria's anti-corruption police, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

Ibori is one of many former Nigerian state governors to have been charged by the EFCC in cases seen as a test of the Nigerian government's commitment to tackling corruption.

President Goodluck Jonathan, who is the front-runner in presidential elections on Saturday, has vowed a tougher line on graft but the cases have made little progress through Nigeria's criminal justice system.