Nigeria, Sept. 16 -- A court in the United Kingdom has ordered a former Goldman Sachs banker, who was described as the linchpin in the money laundering schemes of James Ibori, to return £7.3 million he helped the former governor of Delta State launder or be sentenced to 10 years in prison.

The ruling comes as the UK authorities are processing the confiscation of the assets owned by Mr Ibori, who was sentenced to 13 years in jail by a UK court after he admitted to laundering £50 million stolen from the treasury of Delta State in 2011.

Mr Ibori was released in 2016 and has since returned to Nigeria where he is still a major kingmaker in his native Delta State.

Last week, the Southwark Crown Court ruled that Elias Preko, a 60-ye...