Bhadresh Babulal Gohil

Findings — machine-extracted (anthropic-batch:claude-opus-4-8); verify against the decision

The respondent solicitor was convicted in 2010 at Croydon Crown Court of numerous offences including money laundering, conspiracy to defraud, conspiracy to make false instruments and concealing criminal property, arising from the laundering of $37 million linked to James Ibori, former governor of Delta State, Nigeria. He was sentenced to a total of ten years imprisonment. The Tribunal found the convictions were for offences of dishonesty, established breaches of Rules 1.02 and 1.06, and ordered him struck off the Roll, with costs of £3,963.37. The hearing proceeded in his absence as a serving prisoner.

Duties found breached:

• No conflict between current clients
• Uphold public trust in the profession

Aggravating factors:

• Convictions for serious offences of dishonesty involving money laundering of $37 million
• Severity of sentence (total of ten years imprisonment)
• Caused two preliminary hearings through unsuccessful adjournment applications

Mitigating factors:

• No previous disciplinary findings against the respondent