Bhadresh Gohil, a former attorney for James Ibori, the former governor of Delta State, was given a £28 million fine by a British court for his role in trying to conceal money obtained illegally.
According to a statement from the British Crown Prosecution Office (CPS), the Indian lawyer who was convicted in 2010 of 13 counts of money laundering and other offences related to his role in aiding Ibori in concealing the proceeds of criminal activity was given a Monday deadline to pay just over £28 million or face a new six-year sentence. Half of the lawyer’s 10-year prison sentence, which was handed down in 2010, has already been completed.
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The decision was made after Ibori, who governed the oil-rich state from 1999 to 2007, was found guilty of laundering money in Britain and other countries. He was ordered on Friday to pay £101.5 million ($130 million) or face an eight-year prison term, but the former governor has vowed to appeal the decision.
According to information obtained by Reuters from the CPS under a Freedom of Information law, Ibori’s confiscation order is the second largest issued under the Proceeds of Crime Act since it went into effect in Britain in 2002. The sixth biggest is Gohil’s.
