August 6th 2024.
Zamira Hajiyeva, a wealthy woman whose husband Jahangir Hajiyev held a high position at the International Bank of Azerbaijan from 2001 to 2015, has recently come under scrutiny for her extravagant spending habits. Despite being known for her lavish shopping sprees, she has now agreed to forfeit a £14 million house in Knightsbridge and a golf club in Ascot after a six-year investigation by the National Crime Agency (NCA).
The NCA has determined that these properties were obtained through fraudulent activities such as embezzlement, false accounting, and money laundering. Mrs. Hajiyeva's husband, Jahangir Hajiyev, is currently serving a 16-year jail sentence in Baku for his involvement in these crimes. Mrs. Hajiyeva was the first person to be subjected to an unexplained wealth order, a new power introduced in 2018 to combat money laundering under the Criminal Finances Act.
The NCA has been investigating the source of Mrs. Hajiyeva's wealth and has found that large sums of money were transferred through multiple accounts and companies in various jurisdictions, including the British Virgin Islands, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Panama, Cyprus, and Luxembourg. These funds were then used to purchase luxury assets for the family.
One of the properties, a golf club, was purchased through a complex structure of companies in Luxembourg and Guernsey, as well as offshore trusts in Guernsey and Cyprus. The majority of the funds used to buy the Knightsbridge house were traced back to two specific accounts at the International Bank of Azerbaijan. These funds were then directed to the UK through bank accounts in Cyprus, Estonia, and Switzerland, under the names of companies with no apparent connection to Mr. Hajiyev.
After a lengthy legal battle, the NCA was granted a property freezing order in March 2021 and a claim for civil recovery in June 2023. The High Court recently ruled in favor of the NCA, resulting in the forfeiture of 70% of the value of both properties. However, the court has not made any findings regarding Mrs. Hajiyeva's knowledge of the source of the funds used to purchase these properties.
The NCA has been relentless in their pursuit of recovering the proceeds of crime, using all the tools at their disposal to combat the flow of illicit money into and through the UK. Tim Quarrelle, the branch commander for asset denial at the NCA, stated that they have been tracking the complex movement of funds through the international banking system and shell companies in multiple jurisdictions to determine their source.
The NCA's deputy director, Simon Armstrong, also emphasized their commitment to using all available legal powers to identify, pursue, and recover the proceeds of crime. In a High Court ruling in 2018, it was revealed that Mrs. Hajiyeva had spent over £16 million at Harrods between 2006 and 2016, earning her three loyalty cards from the luxury department store. It was also discovered that she had spent £600,000 in a single day during her decade-long spending spree.
As part of their investigation, the NCA seized jewelry worth over £400,000 from Christie's, suspecting that they were purchased with illicit funds. The auction house was valuing the jewelry for Mrs. Hajiyeva's daughter at the time. This recent ruling by the High Court serves as a reminder that the NCA will not hesitate to use all the necessary means to combat financial crimes and recover the proceeds of crime.
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