Two private investigators were on Tuesday arrested for alleged 20,000 pound bribery in connection with the investigations into money laundering charges against former Delta? governor James Ibori.
The officers, who were alleged to have been hired by Ibori to find out what information Scotland Yard had on him, were working for a company known as RISC Management run by a former Scotland Yard Detective Keith Hunter.
According to SKY News cable television report on Wednesday, RISC was hired by the law firm representing Ibori.
It also quoted Mr Mike Schwarz, a partner at Bindmans, a British Law Firm, as informing the Home Affairs Select Committee of the British parliament of possible cash payments made by Risc to sources who were “presumably police officers or those close to the investigation”.
Schwarz stated that invoices at the firm’s disposal showed roughly half a dozen payments amounting to about 20,000 pounds “over an eight- or nine-month period''.
The private detectives aged 53 and 58 were both arrested on suspicion of bribery as part of a “pre-planned operation that forms part of a long and complex investigation by the Directorate of Professional Standards (DPS)”, the reported quoted Metropolitan Police as saying.
A statement from the force also said: “The Metropolitan Police Service is investigating an allegation that illegal payments were made to police officers for information by a private investigation agency.
Ibori was jailed for 13 years in April after admitting fraud totalling nearly 50 million pounds.
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