The BBC again An art dealer who appeared as an expert on the BBC's Bargain Hunt has been charged with terror offences, the Metropolitan Police has said. Oghenochuko Ojiri, 53, of west London, has been charged with eight counts of "failing to make a disclosure during the course of business within the regulated sector", following an investigation into "terrorist financing". The Met added the alleged offences are said to have occurred between October 2020 and December 2021. Mr Ojiri, who is also known as Ochuko Ojiri, will appear at Westminster Magistrates' Court on Friday. The force said it is the first charge of its kind under section 21A of the Terrorism Act of 2000. It added the probe was carried out by its specialist arts and antiques unit, alongside the Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation (OFSI) and HMRC. In a statement the BBC said: "It would not be appropriate to comment on ongoing legal proceedings." Mr Ojiri is listed on Bargain Hunt's website as one of the show's experts. He is not a member of BBC staff, works as a freelance presenter and has also appeared on Antiques Road Trip and Channel 5's Storage: Flog the Lot! He has not worked on BBC programmes since 2023. Mr Ojiri also founded the Ramp Gallery, a contemporary art showroom now known as the Ojiri Gallery, based in Stoke Newington in north-east London.
It got me curious that, because I didn't know Art was regulated, so my suspicion was money laundering. So I did a quick AI on it and it says this: While the art market isn't as heavily regulated as traditional financial markets, it's not entirely unregulated in the UK. Significant aspects, particularly those related to money laundering and financial sanctions, are now subject to legal and compliance requirements. Key areas of regulation in the UK art market: Anti-Money Laundering (AML) Regulations: Art market participants (AMPs), including art dealers, auction houses, and those operating freeports, are now subject to AML regulations, including registration with HMRC and obligations to verify customer identities and conduct risk-based checks on transactions over 10,000 euros. Financial Sanctions: The UK has extended financial sanctions to the art trade, meaning high-value art dealers and market participants must now comply with new reporting and compliance obligations related to sanctions evasion. Import and Export Regulations: The art market also deals with import and export regulations. Art Therapy: Art therapists in the UK must be registered with the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC) to practice and use specific job titles. Who is an "Art Market Participant"? The term "art market participant" (AMP) under the AML regulations refers to individuals or entities that: Trade in works of art or act as intermediaries in buying or selling them, where the transaction value is 10,000 euros or more. Operate a Freeport that stores works of art, and the value for a person (or series of linked persons) is 10,000 euros or more. Why the increased regulation? The art market was historically seen as having robust discretion but limited regulation, making it a potential target for financial crime. This led to the introduction of regulations aimed at preventing money laundering, sanctions evasion, fraud, and the illicit transfer of goods and wealth. In essence, the art market is not entirely unregulated, and the focus is now on preventing financial crimes within the sector by applying AML and financial sanctions regulations to art market participants. Sorry bit boring I know, but as I said I got curious.
In my time working for a couple of the 'Big 4' Accounting firms had to do loads of training on Money Laundering and Corporate Criminality ... the Turkish Barber shop scaremongering is pretty much a drop in the Ocean, but gets a lot of people very excited ... the most significant money laundering transactions involve 'real estate' transactions partucularly via a process known as 'layering' ... the real reason Turkish Barbers, indeed most cash only businesses, don't want cards is the transaction fees they would otherwise have to pay on relatively modest transactions...
Both back in Bwood and where I am now there are loads of Turkish or similar barbers. All of them are fairly busy most days and rammed at peak times. Doesn’t mean there aren’t parts of the country where that’s not the case but it’s a bit obvious if that’s your choice of money laundering these days. The vape/candy shops absolutely. Not a chance some of those are getting close to breaking even. People like a fresh trim.
I always used Turkish barbers, never thought anything dodgy with them ever, simply because they were good and always rammed with customers.
They’re run and staffed by brown or at least brownish people though and nobody is going to Alan’s Barber for a £10 cut to look like they’re living in 1987 so it must be dodgy. Are some of them evading tax? Almost certainly. Are some of them dodgy? Absolutely. But most are legit businesses rather than fronts.
There's about 8 Turkish barbers on one of the high streets in Soton. Most are pretty much always rammed but there are a couple which I've never seen busy when going past.
Art sales and purchases would be quite problematic for attempted money laundering - not saying impossible, but unlikely - mainly down to ownership provenance / history issues which would make techniques like layering rather difficult ...
He's pleaded guilty to eight charges. Oghenochuko "Ochuko" Ojiri sold art to a known Hezbollah financier to a value of about £140,000. Which going back and looking at the AML rules, he should be disclosing anything over 10k (euros). He also dealt with the buyer directly, so has no defence. Pretty stupid thing to do, how did he think he was going to hide that sum of money without someone questioning it, regulations are so tight now... https://news.sky.com/story/ochuko-o...nces-relating-to-terrorist-financing-13364307 He knew the buyer was sanctioned as well... "At the time of the transactions, Mr Ojiri knew Mr Ahmad had been sanctioned in the US," Mr Harris told the court. "Mr Ojiri accessed news reports about Mr Ahmad's designation and engaged in discussions with others about his designation." "There is one discussion where Mr Ojiri is party to a conversation where it is apparent a lot of people have known for years about his terrorism links."
Police are investigating an alleged attack on a prison officer by Southport killer Axel Rudakubana on Thursday, according to a report in the Sun. A Prison Service spokesperson said: "Police are investigating an attack on a prison officer at HMP Belmarsh yesterday. "Violence in prison will not be tolerated and we will always push for the strongest possible punishment for attacks on our hardworking staff." The 18-year-old was sentenced to a minimum of 52 years in January for the murder of three young girls in an attack on a dance class in the Merseyside town. The report in the Sun has said that Rudakubana threw boiling water over the officer.
Cut his hands off, he won't be throwing nowt else then. I was reading a week or two back what use to go on in asylums, in particular the one that was in Chartham, always referred to as Chartham when I was young but known as St Augustines Hospital, dreadful place...need to chuck ****s like him in there if it still existed, he wouldn't be hurting anyone else once they'd finished with him.
Firstly - he should have boiling water thrown at him from several directions... secondly he should be securely tied to a chair and left in a room where the Southport dance mums can go and visit him ... and finally, what's left should be fed to pigs ... ... am I being a tad harsh? ... would therapy mean he could be reintegrated into society at some point? ... It's cases like his where I can quite happily endorse the reintroduction of capital punishment ...
He won't ever be released to reintegrate into society. He's got a minimum of 52 years to serve and no doubt this sort of **** will add on He'll die in prison as he should. It beggars belief that it was even possible for him to do this though.
In other news am I the only person who thinks it's a bit mental that the blokes who cut that tree down were remanded and are looking at prison? We've got a massive issue with prison spaces and even nonces don't go to prison quite often so I'm not sure we should be imprisoning people for criminal damage.
Some cases generate a level of outrage and get publicity beyond what they really merit. Assuming these aren’t serial offenders, just have them plant a billion trees or something. Have them apologise to all the other trees individually. All of them in the country at their expense. Every tree gets a grovelling apology. Agree it’s nuts someone like Radukanana can just swan around with boiling water and oil but that’s the state of our prison service. Ridiculously stretched. You’d have to have a screw loose to be a screw. Can probably go and work in Tesco and work your way up to Head of Aisle 3 for the same money.
I think the sentencing may be more about precedent - a lenient sentence would have given the unintended message that 'national treasures' aren't really that important, when they actually are to a huge number of the populace ... plus the culprits have become two of the most hated individuals in society and arguably will need protection for quite some time
I reckon they could walk down any high street tomorrow and nobody would have a clue who they are. Having them spend the rest of their life apologising to trees is my free and fair solution which I encourage the judiciary to recognise.
