Bhadresh Gohil is sentenced to 7 years imprisonment as injustice is served!
Bhadresh Gohil is sentenced to 7 years imprisonment as injustice is served!
Bhadresh Gohil, a top UK Lawyer and Partner in Arlingtons Sharmas Solicitors based in Mayfair, is a former lawyer to the beleaguered former Governor of Delta state, Mr James Ibori. Mr Gohil was forced plead to guilty in Novemberfor his role in a sale worth $37 million in shares of a Nigerian telecoms company V-Mobile (now Airtel) and is now serving seven years in a UK prison as injustice was long-established.
Friends and family of the Lawyer, who had always insisted that the Crown's case is entirely based upon presumptions, were stunned on Monday 6th December 2010, at the Southwark Crown Court when Mr Gohil took that surprising action.
According to a friend to Mr Gohil who spoke yesterday to the Media, "it is not surprising that the UK solicitor was advised this course of action given the inevitability of the outcome. The Court has already made up their mind that anybody associated with Ibori is tainted and guilty as charged. Yet despite the lack of substantiated evidence from the Prosecution to prove that Mr Gohil was aware of the illegitimate sources of Ibori funds, in a verdict that shocked the court and forced people to question the justice and equity of the UK judicial system.
Adding: "It remains telling however, that James Ibori himself, on the other hand, remains nowhere near a Court room for to try and convict, the Prosecution would need to rely upon solid evidence, rather than mere inference. Moreover if you look at it, the entire legal job Mr Gohil did for Ibori was carefully documented. All the money transfers and transactions were donethrough Bank transfers, absolutely none was in cash. So if Mr Gohil was guilty of money laundering, then Barclays Bank and HSBC Bank are equally guilty. Where are all the other English Law Firms that handled Ibori's money, or is the Metropolitan Police telling us that Arlingtons Sharmas Solicitors is the only Law Firm that handled Ibori transactions in the UK?"
The Ibori money laundering trial is made up of three segments, and the V-Mobile case is the third and final leg of the entire process.
Mr Gohil's friend, another Top UK Lawyer who spoke to the Media yesterday however insists that "it was a case based entirely on the unproven assumption that Ibori himself obtained the money illegally and the inference therefore that his solicitor acted unlawfully in handling the funds on his behalf".
He continued: "It has taken the Metropolitan Police more than three years to find satisfactory evidence to prove the criminal provenance of the Ibori funds and still without success; yet his solicitor is expected to have uncovered all this information through the Due Diligence procedures, the adequacy of which were proved in court.Mr Gohil, found himself in the unenviable no-win position by being a solicitor, of being duty-bound by his profession to act for his client and on instructions."
"It is therefore not surprising that Mr Gohil pleaded guilty to all charges, having already spent amounts in the seven figures on legal fees for a trial where the verdict was damned from the beginning for it is clear that the discrimination and antagonism surrounding James Ibori was insurmountable. It meant that that anyone associated with him would automatically be judged and condemned simply for his involvement with the politician, regardless of the strength of his case. Defending any further case proved cost-prohibitive and, given the existing prejudice of the Ibori saga, doomed to failure. This was a case built on bias and preconception, without any sense of fair trial."
"Mr Gohil's well-built legal team provided evidence that each transaction, however complex, emanated from legitimate UK banks such as HSBC and Barclays, yet it is interesting to note that none of those institutions is being held accountable for handling allegedly stolen funds, or is made to stand beside Gohil. He has clearly become the fall guy.
"It is only Bhadresh Gohil, a reputable UK-based solicitor, a family man, who has been used as a scapegoat for the wrath of those against Ibori, and who must ultimately take the blame for the controversial politician's alleged actions. Is this justice"?
Mr Gohil's friend however insists that the Met Police acted "unlawfully" in seeking Arlingtons Sharmas Solicitors client files in relation to Ibori, adding that the investigation report was "coached" by the Police and the issue of "backdating", another point in the police case collapsed on close scrutiny.
Earlier, in the first segment of the trial, Ibori's sister, Christine Ibori-Ibie, and mistress, Udoamaka Onuigbo, were convicted and sentenced to five years imprisonment by the court for helping the former governor launder funds said to be "looted" from Nigeria.
In the on-going V-Mobile case, Mr. Gohil was arraigned on charges of being accessory to a scheme that enabled former governors, Mr. James Ibori of Delta state, Victor Obong Attah of Akwa Ibom state; the former Principal Secretary to Umaru Yar'Adua (Former President of Nigeria), David Edevbie;, Love Ojakovo, a former commissioner of finance to Ibori and a business associate of Ibori, Henry Imashekka to steal funds that accrued from the sale of V-Mobile shares belonging to the two Nigerian states.
In the course of the investigation, the Police used several underhanded tactics including misleading a number of former Arlingtons Sharma solicitors, in particular Vickesh Bandymandhub and Mishail Dusad in an attempt to persuade them to give favorable statements.
"As far as the Metropolitan Police and the Crown Prosecution Service are concerned, any UK solicitor that acts on behalf of a Nigerian client with money is to all intents and purposes acting for a criminal and therefore all financial transactions are potentially fraudulent regardless of the evidence that is produced to the contrary. Furthermore, even if the source of James Ibori's funds were declared illegitimate, it is beyond a solicitor's professional duty to be held responsible, having complied with his due diligence' requirements and know your client formalities'; a fully substantiated fact that the prosecution ignore in the proceedings", He said.
Just as Bhadresh Gohil is being used as a scapegoat for a political battle that is out of the hands of UK authorities, today Mr Gohil represents every lawyer in the UK that must fight to defend their liberties and rights against the injustices of the system.
"It is simply not right for Solicitors being held accountable for the misdemeanors of their clients. In Europe legal practitioners cannot be prosecuted for their clients matters", he concluded.
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