UK Court Fines Indian Lawyer £28m In Ibori’s Corruption Case

Bhadresh Gohil, the former attorney for James Ibori, the former governor of Delta State, was ordered by a UK court on Monday, July 24, to pay roughly 28 million pounds (about $36 million), for assisting Ibori in concealing funds that were obtained illegally.

Gohil, 59, was found guilty of money laundering, tainting a money laundering investigation, and conspiring to defraud in the UK in 2010. He received a prison term of over ten years.

In 2012, James Ibori, his co-defendant and a former governor of Delta State, who is 61 years old, admitted conspiring to launder money, deceive, and create false documents. He allegedly employed a sophisticated strategy to launder the proceeds of his crime, one that involved his wife, sister, and lover, it was said at the time.

Read Also: London Judge Orders Confiscation Of 130m From Ex-governor James Ibori

The UK court decided that Ibori had purchased houses in London, Texas, and Washington, DC, using his position as governor to “steal millions to fund a lavish and luxurious lifestyle.” Ibori received a 13-year prison sentence in February 2012. After serving the period, he went back to Nigeria.

Following confiscation proceedings at Southwark Crown Court, the Crown Prosecution Service revealed Thursday that Gohil had benefitted from his offense to the tune of £42,424,037.01. The judge found that he has $28,191,797.15 in available assets to cover a confiscation order or serve an additional six years. Ibori was given a payment deadline of October 1 and a possible eight-year prison sentence.

Adrian Foster, the chief crown prosecutor of the CPS Proceeds of crime division, said: “This was one of our largest international cases and illustrates how robustly the CPS tackles international illicit finance and corruption.’ The amount that both defendants have benefited from their criminality has been highly contested, but thanks to the hard work of our dedicated team and that of the National Crime Agency, we have been able to uncover the full extent of their corruption.

“This has led to the making of confiscation orders of over £128m, which will ultimately result in the return of funds back to the people of Nigeria.”