Azerbaijan Leader's Daughters Tried to Buy £60m London Home with Offshore Funds

• 12.22.2018, 12:03
•  Region,  World

RIA NOVOSTI

The daughters of Azerbaijan’s president agreed to buy a £60m London property using a secret offshore company, in a case potentially carrying “a significant risk of money laundering”, a tribunal has heard, The Guardian reports.

Leyla and Arzu Aliyeva sought to purchase two luxury Knightsbridge flats for £59.5m, including £3m to convert them into a single home. The deal in 2015 was intended to be the latest addition to a multi-million pound property portfolio in Britain acquired by president Ilham Aliyev’s family.

Leyla Aliyeva initiated the purchase at the same time as her divorce from Emin Agalarov, an Azerbaijani businessman and pop star. Aglarov’s father Aras, a Moscow-based property developer, hosted Donald Trump on his 2013 visit to Russia for the Miss Universe beauty pageant.

The tribunal fined him £45,000 and £40,000 in costs. He is the first UK professional to be punished following the publication in April 2016 by the Guardian and other media of the Panama Papers – 11.5 million leaked documents from the Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca.

A close associate of the president, Javad Marandi, introduced the Aliyeva sisters to Child & Child, the tribunal was told. Sharif then set up a British Virgin Islands company, Exaltation Ltd, on their behalf, bought from Mossack Fonseca. Its purpose was “holding UK property”.

The women – who have cultivated high profiles inside and outside their home country – should have been classified as politically exposed persons or ‘PEPs’. This status triggers extensive banking checks.

However, Sharif “didn’t consider” any such steps or apply the necessary enhanced due diligence checks, the tribunal heard. Asked if his new clients were PEPs, he instructed a para-legal to tick a box marked “no”.

The luxury flats due to be bought from a developer were “close” to Child & Child’s London office, which overlooks the garden of Buckingham Palace. After exchanging contracts, the Aliyev sisters started to pay the purchase price in instalments, transferring more than £10m. The deal “unravelled” in 2016 after their ownership was exposed.

The case illustrates the ease with which rich, politically-connected individuals from overseas can use anonymous company vehicles to buy prime London real estate – and highlights the dangers for high-end UK law firms and solicitors acting in these transactions.