A British court has ordered Bhadresh Gohil, an ex-lawyer of former Delta State Governor James Ibori, to pay £28 million for his involvement in concealing funds gained illegally.
Gohil, an Indian lawyer, was previously convicted in 2010 on 13 counts of money laundering and other offenses related to his role in helping Ibori hide the proceeds from criminal activities during Ibori’s tenure as governor of the oil-rich state from 1999 to 2007.
According to Reuters, the court handed down the order on Monday, stating that Gohil must pay the sum or face an additional six-year sentence.
He had previously received a 10-year prison sentence in 2010 and has served half of that term.
The court’s decision comes in the wake of a recent ruling against Ibori, who was found guilty of laundering millions of pounds in Britain and elsewhere.
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He was ordered to pay £101.5 million ($130 million) or face an eight-year sentence.
Ibori, however, has declared his intention to appeal the confiscation order in the United Kingdom court.
Under Britain’s Proceeds of Crime Act, which came into effect in 2002, Ibori’s confiscation order ranks as the second largest made under the Act, while Gohil’s order stands as the fifth largest, according to data obtained by Reuters from Britain’s Crown Prosecution Office (CPS) through a Freedom of Information law.
While Britain remains a global money-laundering hub with highly developed financial and legal services and a lucrative property market, it is uncommon for foreign kleptocrats like Ibori to face prosecution. Ibori’s case remains an outlier in this regard.
