A Bargain Hunt expert was given a jail sentence for selling high-end art to a US national who had been arrested on suspicion of financing Hezbollah.
A BBC Bargain Hunt art expert, who was jailed for failing to report a series of high-value art sales to a man suspected of financing militant group Hezbollah, has lost an appeal against his sentence.
Oghenochuko Ojiri was jailed for two and a half years and a further year on licence in June for selling artwork worth around £140,000 to Nazem Ahmad, a man designated by US authorities as a suspected financier for the Lebanese organisation.
The 53-year-old is the first person alleged to have been charged with the offence because he had previously admitted guilt to eight crimes under section 21A of the Terrorism Act 2000.
Ojiri’s lawyers told the Court of Appeal on Wednesday that the art dealer should be sentenced to a lower sentence. They argued that the artist was “naive.”
However, three senior judges decided against the claim and said Ojiri “knew what he was doing.” There can be a lot of things said in his favor, according to Lord Justice Edis, who is seated alongside Judge Samantha Leigh and Mr. Justice Martin Spencer. However, we must accept that he poses a naive offender’s role.
He may have been an inexperienced art dealer, but by the time this series of transactions began, he was fully aware of his obligations, of Ahmad’s activities, and of the causes of those obligations.
He continued, “He was committing these crimes in order to make a sizable sum of money,” and he knew what he was doing. That is not at all naive.
In January 2020, Ojiri was accused of failing to report information about transactions in the regulated art market sector on or before October 2020 due to new money laundering laws that were passed by the HMRC.
According to the prosecution, Ojiri was the owner and manager of the Ramp Gallery at the time. According to a previous hearing, Ojiri was aware that Mr. Ahmad, who was alleged to be based in Beirut, had been arrested in the US.
According to US prosecutors, Mr. Ahmad used “high-value art and diamonds” to launder money and finance the organization. He is a “major Hezbollah financial donor.” He is accused of avoiding terrorism sanctions by using front companies to buy more than 160 million pounds of artwork and diamond services.
Hezbollah is a Shia Islamist political and militant group based in Lebanon, backed by Iran and known for its armed resistance against Israel.
The entire organization, including both its political and military wing, has been declared a terrorist organization in the UK since 2019.
Mrs Justice Cheema-Grubb, sentencing, told Ojiri he had been involved in a commercial relationship “for prestige and profit”, and that he had been “seeking the kudos of dealing with an eminent name in the dealing world ”.
On Wednesday, Gavin Irwin, who was representing Ojiri, testified for the Court of Appeal, claiming the judge did not consider mitigating factors in the case and did not take into account Ojiri’s naivety or inexperience.
This was not a man who was ignorant or uninterested in the change in the law, according to Crown Prosecution Service spokesperson Lyndon Harris.
He added that there were instances of Ojiri “changing the details on invoices to conceal Mr. Ahmad’s identity,” citing the offence as being “a serious example of a section 21A offence.”
Although the case “did not involve any money moving from the appellant to any terrorist organization or any other criminal source,” Ojiri “went to some trouble” to “disclose Mr. Ahmad’s identity,” according to Lord Justice Edis. He came to the conclusion that the phrase “was not fundamentally excessive or wrong.”
Ojiri, of Brent, north London, has appeared on a number of BBC shows, including Bargain Hunt and Antiques Road Trip, as a freelance presenter.
Although he was detained while filming a BBC TV program, it is known that he hasn’t contributed to the company’s programming since 2023.
A prison officer informed the court that he had “refused to attend,” but he was scheduled to show up at the hearing via videolink from jail.
