UK court orders Ibori’s lawyer to pay £28 million

Last Friday, the former governor promised to appeal a UK court ruling that ordered the confiscation of £101.5 million linked to him.

A British court has sentenced an ex-lawyer of former Delta State Governor James Ibori to pay £28 million for assisting in the concealment of illegally obtained funds.

Bhadresh Gohil, an Indian lawyer, was convicted in 2010 on 13 counts of money laundering and other offences related to his part in assisting Ibori in concealing the proceeds of criminal activity. Ibori ruled the oil-rich state from 1999 until 2007.

Gohil was ordered on Monday to pay just over £28 million or face a further six-year imprisonment, according to Reuters, citing a statement from Britain’s Crown Prosecution Service (CPS). The lawyer was sentenced to ten years in jail in 2010 and has served half of that time.

The ruling comes after Ibori, who was convicted of money laundering in the United Kingdom and others, was sentenced on Friday to pay £101.5 million ($130 million) or face an eight-year prison sentence.

Last Friday, Ibori promised to appeal a UK court ruling that ordered the forfeiture of £101.5 million linked to him.

According to data received by Reuters from the CPS under a Freedom of Information request, Ibori’s confiscation order is the second highest made under the Proceeds of Crime Act since it went into effect in 2002. Gohil’s is the seventh largest.

Britain is a global money-laundering centre due to its highly developed financial and legal services, as well as its wealthy property market, but foreign kleptocrats are rarely convicted, and Ibori’s case remains an aberration.