Ibori: Judges ‘misled’ over evidence of Met bribery

Judges were repeatedly told that there was “no evidence” of alleged police corruption despite Scotland Yard and the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) being aware there was.

The CPS has admitted it failed to disclose secret police intelligence that supported claims that bribes were paid to serving officers by a controversial private investigation firm.

Documents reveal claims that the Metropolitan police’s anticorruption unit was compromised by RISC Management, a now defunct company described in police reports as an “aggressive corruptor of serving officers”.

When a lawyer named Bhadresh Gohil raised suspicions about the alleged corrupt relationship, he was prosecuted for attempting to pervert the course of justice. However, before he was charged, the CPS had in its possession a large quantity of evidence that supported his claims.

During a complex series of trials over four years, Sasha Wass QC, the prosecuting counsel in all the cases, told two judges there was nothing to support allegations of police corruption.

An investigation by The Sunday Times has found that Alison Saunders, the director of public prosecutions (DPP), stepped in to halt the case against Gohil after a judge ordered the CPS to release information that lent support to his corruption allegations.

The documents included details of Operation Limonium, a secret Met police report dating back to 2007. It claimed RISC was an “organised crime network” that was “attempting to penetrate high-level Met operations”.

One document is said to contain details of a telephone call made by Cliż Knuckey, an RISC employee, in 2007 during which he allegedly “bragged” of bribing Detective Constable John McDonald, a serving police officers, for inside information about a police investigation. 

Details of the conversation had been obtained by HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC), which had been investigating RISC over unrelated matters.

HMRC’s intelligence was passed to the Met’s anti- corruption command, but not disclosed even when the courts were told no such information existed.

A source close to Wass said she was “only able to disclose what she had been told” and “categorically refutes that she deliberately misled the court”.

Stephen Kamlish QC, who represents Gohil, has accused Wass, several CPS lawyers and Met officers in open court of lying to judges. 

At a hearing earlier this month, he accused the CPS and Scotland Yard of prosecuting his client while “knowing he was innocent”.

The murky ażair centres on Scotland Yard’s pursuit of James Ibori, a Nigerian politician who employed RISC to help him defend charges of fraud and money laundering. 

Ibori was jailed for 13 years in 2012. Gohil, one of the politician’s lawyers, had previously pleaded guilty to fraud and money laundering in 2010.

From behind bars, Gohil began raising his suspicions with MPs and journalists about alleged police corruption. 

In response, Scotland Yard began a new inquiry in 2011, which quickly identified evidence that appeared to corroborate Gohil’s claims.

It is understood that the CPS and counsel were briefed about the Met inquiry in late 2011. Two months later, when the corruption allegations were raised in the final stages of Ibori’s trial, Wass told the court: 

“There is nothing to disclose. There is no person who is currently or has recently been the subject of an investigation arising out of this complaint.”

Gohil continued to raise his claims of police corruption and in 2014 sought to appeal his original conviction.

The Sunday Times understands that Wass, the CPS and the Met discussed the 2007 phone conversation before the appeal hearing.

An initial statement to the Court of Appeal was changed to remove a sentence that read: “Cliż Knuckey had bragged to others that he had paid DC McDonald for information.”

Wass assured the Court of Appeal that there was nothing to back up Gohil’s claims. 

“Somebody made a phone call to say there was a corrupt relationship. It was looked at thoroughly and nothing untoward discovered,” she told a judge.

Gohil lost his appeal and was charged with perverting the course of justice by fabricating the accusations. 

That prosecution collapsed when a judge ordered the release of the Operation Limonium report and other material, including details of HMRC’s evidence from 2007.

As the CPS continues its review into the case, Gohil and Ibori are planning appeals against their original convictions.

McDonald is still serving in the MET and has denied any impropriety. He has never been disciplined.

Wass is understood to privately blame the police and insists that the Met wrongly instructed her and the CPS.

A source close to the barrister said “she acted properly and professionally and only on the instructions of the CPS”.

The CPS said it now accepted that “material should have been disclosed to the defence”. It is confident that the prosecutions remain safe.

The Met said it was “confident” that it had “shared all the necessary and relevant information and intelligence with the CPS”.

The former boss of RISC did not respond to requests for comment. He has previously denied any wrongdoing.

Knuckey said he “has always maintained his own innocence” and that there had been “no corruption in this case”.

TheTimes

For Diaspora Digital Media Updates click on Whatsapp, or Telegram. For eyewitness accounts/ reports/ articles, write to: citizenreports@diasporadigitalmedia.com. Follow us on X (Fomerly Twitter) or Facebook