London - The Southwark Crown Court judge Christopher Hardy has sentenced Mr. Bhadresh Gohil, the London lawyer of former Delta State Governor, Chief James Onanefe Ibori to 7-year term in prison for fraud and money laundering and for his involvement in the V-Mobile (now Airtel) share scandal.

$37 milion dollars was diverted from the sale of the shares as commission and fees which were eventually laundered. 

The V-Mobile share fraud cases involved former governor of Delta State, James Ibori, former governor of Akwa Ibom, Obong Victor Attah, Former Lagos State Governor, Bola Tinubu, former Commissioner of Finance in Delta State and former Principal Secretary to late President Umaru Yar’Adua, Mr. David Edevbie, Mr. Love Ojakovo and former banker and businessman, Mr. Henry Imasekha 

Mr. Bhadresh, a partner at Arlington Sharma Solicitors on Monday 6th December 2010 at Southwark Crown Court entered a guilty plea on all charges of conspiracy, forgery and money laundering leveled against him by the prosecution and was subsequently remanded in prison awaiting sentencing.

Meantime, Chief James Ibori who is still being held in Dubai at the request of London’s Metropolitan Police will face trial in the court for similar offences if the British government succeeds in extraditing him to London.

During the trial, it was revealed that the city lawyer masterminded a £22 million theft from the people of Nigeria and took profits from the telecom takeover deal which should have gone to the public purse in two Nigerian States and arranged for the money to be smuggled overseas.
Mr Gohil also conspired with the two state governors and employed innocent trainees and juniors at his Arlingtons Sharmas to carry out his dirty work.
Gohil who supported charities in Africa and India and helped out at a London soup kitchen admitted fraud and money laundering.
Judge said he brought shame to Britain

Mr Gohil has consistently maintained his innocence. 

In a statement released by Gohil’s family and made available to elombah.com they said;

"Bhadresh Gohil has been sentenced after he pleaded guilty to charges relating to the V Mobile transaction. It is not surprising that the UK solicitor was advised this course of action given the inevitability of the outcome.  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.  

"Yet despite the lack of substantiated evidence provided by the Prosecution to prove that 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 judicial system, he was found guilty on all charges of money laundering.  It remains telling however, that Ibori himself, on the other hand, remains nowhere near a Court room.  For to try and convict Ibori, the Prosecution would need to rely upon solid evidence, rather than mere inference.

"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.   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 Gohil pleaded guilty to all charges, having already spent amounts in the six 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.

"Gohil's 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 fallguy.

"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?"