The club, along with a £14 million Knightsbridge house, has been relinquished by the wife of jailed banker Jahangir Hajiyev. This development comes six years after the NCA's civil recovery investigation began. The agency maintains these assets were procured as a result of large-scale fraudulent activities, embezzlement, and money laundering.
The Berkshire gold club is understood to be the 170-acre Mill Ride Golf Club in Ascot. NCA applied for unexplained wealth orders (UWOs) to secure the UK properties in 2018. These were the UK's first UWOs, preventing the properties from being sold or transferred.
Hajiyev, who led the International Bank of Azerbaijan (IBA) until 2015, was convicted of multiple offenses in 2016, including embezzlement and fraud linked to his tenure. Further charges for embezzlement were added in 2019. Hajiyev is currently serving a 16-year sentence in Baku, Azerbaijan.
An associate of Hajiyev allegedly transferred funds derived from the IBA, using multiple accounts in a manner consistent with money laundering practices. These transfers facilitated the acquisition of luxury assets for the family. The golf club's purchase was conducted through Luxembourg and Guernsey-registered companies, with no justification provided for the source of funds.
A probe revealed significant amount from the funds were directly attributable to sums generated by promissory notes and loan agreements, potentially designed to obscure the theft of IBA monies. In March 2021, a property .