Ibori’s lawyer awarded £20,000 for unlawful detention

Bhadresh Gohil, a lawyer convicted of money laundering and linked to James Ibori, a former governor of Delta state, has received £20,000 from the crown prosecution service after claims that he was deprived of his rights.

According to BBC, Gohil had served half his sentence for fraud and money laundering but Sasha Wass, the prosecution lawyer, applied for the bail to be revoked.

But the defence team of Gohil argued that the prosecution had acted in bad faith by telling the court that the unconditional bail was unopposed.

Following the arguments of the defence of Gohil’s attorney, the crown prosecution service agreed to pay Ibori’s lawyer the sum in view of his claims that he was unlawfully detained for 33 days between November 20 and December 22, 2015.

However, Gohil was jailed for 10 years in 2010 for helping Ibori launder money that had not been legitimately obtained.

Also, the former Delta governor was also jailed for 13 years in 2012, having pleaded guilty to laundering money in the United Kingdom.

Earlier in the year, the crown prosecution service had alleged that crucial evidence of alleged police corruption had been covered up in Ibori’s trail.

This led to the removal of a John McDonald, who had headed the investigation into the former governor of Delta state.

Though McDonald has always denied any wrongdoing, the national crime agency is currently conducting a review into alleged evidence of police corruption.