A London court on Monday ordered an ex-lawyer of former Nigerian state governor James Ibori to pay around 28 million pounds (around $36 million) for helping hide funds gained illegally. Ibori’s former lawyer Bhadresh Gohil was convicted in 2010 of 13 counts of money laundering and other offences linked to his role helping Ibori, governor of Delta State in southern Nigeria from 1999 to 2007, hide the proceeds from criminal activities. Gohil, who was sentenced to 10 years in prison in 2010 and served half of his sentence, was ordered on Monday to pay just over 28 million pounds or face a further six-year sentence, Britain’s Crown Prosecution Office said in a statement.
The decision comes after Ibori, who abused his office to get rich and laundered millions in Britain and elsewhere, was on Friday ordered to pay 101.5 million pounds ($130 million) or face an eight-year sentence. Ibori, who is in Nigeria, said he would appeal against his confiscation order, one of the largest imposed on an individual in recent British legal history. The confiscation process has taken over a decade since Ibori’s conviction because of lengthy court delays and legal wrangling in London. Britain has pledged to return any funds recovered from Ibori or Gohil to Nigeria. In 2021, it returned 4.2 million pounds that had been confiscated from Ibori’s ex-wife and his sister, who also served jail time for helping him.
