Dressed in blue jeans and reclining in a sleek leather armchair, he looks every inch the high-flying international businessman.
But Nazem Ahmad is in fact a wanted man – accused by the US and UK of using his role as an art collector and diamond trader to raise funds for Hezbollah, the brutal Iran-backed terror group.
The 60-year-old was today named in court as a business contact of art dealer and BBC Bargain Hunt star Ochuko Ojiri, who had been accused of selling Ahmad £140,000 worth of art in 2020 and 2021 despite being aware of his background.
Today, at Westminster Magistrates’ Court, Ojiri dramatically pleaded guilty to eight charges under section 21A of the Terrorism Act 2000 by failing to report the transactions to the authorities.
According to prosecutors, Ojiri first struck up a business relationship with Ahmad in October 2020.
By this point, Ahmad had already been sanctioned by the US Treasury, with officials accusing the dual Belgian-Lebanese national of being a ‘major’ donor to Hezbollah, a Shia Islamist militant group dedicated to the destruction of Israel.
Nazem Ahmad is a dual Belgian-Lebanese citizen who is sanctioned by both the UK and US
BBC Bargain Hunt star Ochuko Ojiri sold artwork to Ahmad despite knowing of his alleged terror links, Westminster Magistrates’ Court heard today (when he is pictured)
A wanted poster issued by American officials makes it clear they consider Ahmad to be a serious player, with a $10million (£7.52m) reward offered for information on his whereabouts.
Alongside money laundering and terrorism financing, he is also alleged to be involved in the smuggling of ‘blood diamonds’ – a term used for stones mined in conflict zones before being traded on the black market.
None of this appears to have stopped Ojiri from working with Ahmad while director of his eponymous Ojiri Gallery in the trendy London district of Shoreditch.
According to prosecutors, he was fully aware Ahmad had been sanctioned by the US, reading news reports about him on his phone while openly discussing the diamond dealer’s alleged links to global terror.
Prosecutor Lyndon Harris today told a judge that Ojiri ‘dealt with Mr Ahmad directly, negotiated the sales of artwork and congratulated him on those sales’.
The businessman had first been sanctioned as a terrorist financier by the US Treasury in 2019.
In April 2024, he was charged by the US alongside eight associates of using front companies to acquire more than £120 million in artwork and diamond services.
A wanted poster issued by American officials makes it clear they consider Ahmad to be a serious player, with a $10million (£7.52m) reward offered for information on his whereabouts
In the UK, the entirety of Hezbollah – both its military and political wings – has been banned as a terrorist group since 2019. Pictured are Hezbollah militants training in 2023
British police played a key role in the case against him, swooping on a high-security depot at Heathrow Airport last year before seizing nearly two dozen works of art in his collection.
Linked raids at a London auction house recovered more works he had been planning to sell, including paintings by Picasso and Andy Warhol.
The proceeding years had seen a tightening of money laundering regulations that, in January 2020, brought the art market under HMRC supervision.
Ojiri is said to have discussed the changes with a colleague, indicating awareness of the rules.
Counter-terror police investigating Ahmad’s business dealings first arrested Ojiri in April 2023, but he claimed to be unaware of his alleged links to terror.
But he backtracked in a second interview in July 2023, admitting to officers that he knew he was the subject of US sanctions.
According to a CPS summary to a CPS summary of the interview, Ojiri told officers that links with Ahmad were seen as a ‘great accolade’ due to his reputation in the art work.
He said he was ‘sorry’ for his actions and claimed to have been motivated by the ‘excitement and kudos of dealing with a ”name” in the collecting world’, rather than greed.
Ojiri has been a regular face on BBC shows for several years
Prosecutors say the artwork sold by Ojiri appears to have been sent to Dubai, the UAE or Beirut – where Ahmad is currently believed to be located.
Ojiri, meanwhile, is awaiting sentencing at the Old Bailey on June 6.
It represents a dramatic downfall for the previously respected antiques specialist, who first appeared on screens on the BBC’s Put Your Money Where Your Mouth Is.
He then became a regular on Bargain Hunt, gaining a reputation for his enthusiastic on-screen demeanor and love of hats, before also appearing on the BBC’s Antiques Road Trip.
Away from the TV screen, he owned a vintage shop in the capital called Pelicans & Parrots, which was dubbed ‘the coolest place in London’ before shutting its doors in October 2021.
Ojiri has described his love of collecting items including contemporary art, paintings, prints, sculpture and drawings – telling the BBC: ‘I’m absolutely obsessed, in love and infatuated.’
Today, district judge Briony Clarke granted bail but ordered him to surrender his passport and not to apply for international travel documents.
He now faces a maximum sentence of five years in prison.
In the UK, the entirety of Hezbollah – both its military and political wings – has been banned as a terrorist group since 2019.
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