Zamira Hajiyeva’s husband Jahangir is serving a 16-year jail sentence in Baku for offences including abuse of office and fraud relating to unlawful conduct when he was the chairman of the International Bank of Azerbaijan (IBA) between 2001 and 2015. The National Crime Agency (NCA) believes the assets were obtained as a direct result of large-scale fraud and embezzlement, false accounting and money laundering. After a six year investigation, Mrs Hajiyeva agreed to forfeit the home in Walton Street, near Harrods, as well as the golf club in Ascot.
Tim Quarrelle, branch commander for Asset Denial at the NCA, said: “NCA officers worked tirelessly to track the complex movement of these funds across the international banking system, through shell companies in multiple jurisdictions, in order to ascertain their source. “This result comes almost six and a half years after we served Mrs Hajiyeva with the first unexplained wealth order ever granted, and highlights our commitment to using all the tools at our disposal to combat the flow of illicit money into, and through, the UK.” The NCA said money derived from the IBA was moved through accounts and companies in a host of different jurisdictions – including the British Virgin Islands, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Panama, Cyprus and Luxembourg – before being channelled into luxury assets for the family.
Simon Armstrong, deputy director at NCA Legal, said: “The NCA’s investigation was followed by complex and lengthy litigation, which saw NCA lawyers address numerous challenges and use a range of legal powers introduced by the Criminal Finances Act 2017 to successfully recover assets worth millions of pounds. “This fantastic result demonstrates how the NCA will deploy all the powers available to identify, pursue and recover the proceeds of crime.”.
