Gohil who was a partner at a firm in the London district of Mayfair had helped Ibori channel stolen funds through shell companies and offshore accounts, and buy assets such as an English country house and a $20 million private jet – although police caught up with the men before the jet was delivered.
Gohil also masterminded a fraud in which $37 million in fake consultancy fees was stolen from two Nigerian states in connection with the sale of their stakes in a telecoms company.
Ibori was extradited to Britain in 2011, and in 2012 was convicted of 10 counts of fraud and money-laundering and jailed for 13 years.
Confiscation proceedings against both Ibori and Gohil have dragged on for close to a decade, repeatedly delayed by appeals and complications.
In Ibori’s case, a hearing took place at London’s Southwark Crown Court in January. Prosecutors asked the court to make a confiscation order against Ibori of £17.7 million. The judge is yet to hand down his decision.
A hearing on Gohil’s case is ongoing at the same court. Lead prosecution counsel Jonathan Kinnear on Thursday began setting out the details of what he said was Gohil’s criminal benefit.
Gohil will have a chance later in the hearing to call witnesses and give evidence himself to dispute the prosecution case. Any confiscation order against him, as for Ibori, will be issued by the judge at a later date. (source: www.nationalmailonline.com)