Nigerian-British art dealer and BBC TV personality Ochuko Ojiri has pleaded guilty to eight charges connected to terrorism financing
The 53-year-old, whose full name is Oghenochuko Ojiri, appeared at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Thursday morning. He admitted to eight counts under section 21A of the Terrorism Act 2000, all relating to failures to disclose information in the regulated art sector between October 2020 and December 2021.
Prosecutors say Ojiri sold artwork worth around £140,000 to a man named Mr Ahmad, who is suspected of funding the militant group Hezbollah. The court heard that Ojiri was aware Mr Ahmad had been sanctioned in the US and had long known of his alleged involvement in terrorist financing.
“He engaged in selling artwork to a suspected terrorist financier,” said prosecutor Lyndon Harris. “There is one discussion where Mr Ojiri is party to a conversation where it was said he had known for years about Mr Ahmad’s activities.”
Ojiri, dressed in a grey suit, blue polka dot tie, and large clear glasses, stood in the dock to enter his guilty pleas. He was previously the owner of Pelicans & Parrots, a now-closed vintage shop in west London once dubbed “the coolest place in London.”
The charges came after a probe led by the National Terrorist Financial Investigation Unit, supported by the Metropolitan Police’s Counter Terrorism Command, the Treasury, HMRC, and the Met’s Arts & Antiques Unit.
Gavin Irwin, representing Ojiri, argued for conditional bail, saying, “He is not a flight risk. The fact that he is here—he has left the UK and has always returned, knowing he may be charged—he will be here on the next occasion.”
Judge Briony Clarke granted conditional bail requiring Ojiri to surrender his passport and barred him from applying for travel documents. He is scheduled to be sentenced at the Old Bailey on June 6.
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