Guernsey linked to Zamira Hajiyeva’s £10 million golf course named in the UK NCA civil recovery action

Following a National Crime Agency (NCA) civil recovery investigation into acquiring the properties, The wife of jailed banker Jahangir Hajiyev has agreed to forfeit:-

• A house in Knightsbridge worth approximately £14 million and
• A golf club in Ascot worth approximately £10 million

The NCA's investigation revealed that the assets were obtained as a direct result of a staggering scale of fraud, embezzlement, false accounting, and money laundering.

The sheer magnitude of these crimes is genuinely shocking.

On 17/02/2020, Comsure reported that Guernsey was linked to Jahangir Hajiyev, his wife, Zamira, and an Ascot golf course.

• https://www.comsuregroup.com/news/uk-luxury-properties-including-a-golf-course-forfeited-uwo/

As part of this story was the purchase of the Mill Ride Golf & Country Club, a 170-acre course in the verdant Berkshire countryside.

The ownership of the golf club was routed through Guernsey in 2013 and continued so through 2017

• https://www.comsuregroup.com/news/guernsey-linked-to-jahangir-hajiyev-and-his-wife-zamira-and-an-ascot-golf-course/

Here's a summary of the story:

• Jahangir Hajiyev was the chairman of the International Bank of Azerbaijan (IBA) from 2001 to 2015. He is currently serving a 16-year sentence for charges including fraud and embezzlement.
• Zamira Hajiyeva spent more than £16m at Harrods in a decade and was investigated by the National Crime Agency (NCA) for six years.
• The NCA applied for a freezing order for two properties in March 2021 and a civil recovery order in June 2023¹. The court granted the latter order, meaning 70% of the property's value must be forfeited¹.
• The NCA believes the assets were obtained as a direct result of large-scale fraud, embezzlement, false accounting, and money laundering².
• The Mill Ride Golf Club purchase was conducted through a complex structure of Luxembourg and Guernsey-registered companies and by using offshore trusts in Guernsey and Cyprus¹.
• The NCA said there were numerous examples of funds from the Azerbaijan bank being transferred through multiple accounts - a typical money laundering tactic¹.
• The NCA believes the money for the house came from two IBA accounts - again concealed via multiple foreign bank accounts and the payments sent to the UK by an associate of Mr Hajiyev¹.
• Despite the court deciding the properties were paid for using illicit funds, it did not make any finding on whether Mrs Hajiyeva knew where the money came from¹.
• The ownership of the golf club was routed through Guernsey in 2013³.

The Bloomberg article "Dirty Money Spotlights Role of Family Offices as Enablers" highlighted.

• Zamira Hajiyeva, the wife of Jahangir Hajiyev, a jailed banker, has been linked to the Mill Ride Golf Course in Berkshire and Trident Trust in Guernsey.
• Jahangir Hajiyev, the chairman of the International Bank of Azerbaijan, and his wife, Zamira Hajiyeva, appeared to be living on dirty money¹.
• Between 2003 and 2015, the couple spent a fortune in the UK¹. They bought a townhouse in Knightsbridge for £11.5 million, a golf course and club near Ascot for another £10.5 million, and a new Gulfstream jet for $42.5 million¹.
• Zamira Hajiyeva, wielding 35 credit cards, spent about £725,000 in Harrods in one week alone¹.
• Despite Jahangir Hajiyev's annual salary at the state-owned International Bank of Azerbaijan being $70,650 in 2008, and Zamira Hajiyeva having no significant income herself, a raft of enablers—lawyers, accountants, investment advisers and other professionals—helped the couple steer their wealth into assets in the UK from a web of offshore companies¹.
• Among these enablers were fiduciary-services firm Trident Trust and multi-family office Werner Capital. They helped set up entities in the Channel Islands and Britain to acquire and hold the golf club in a structure that masked the Hajiyevs’ ownership¹.
• The UK’s National Crime Agency (NCA) is investigating the couple’s financial dealings and told a London court the setup was “indicative of money laundering”¹.

AML UK Law changes 2016¹.

• The opaque offshore structures the couple used to hold their assets were becoming more transparent thanks to the U.K.’s crackdown on money laundering.
• In April 2016, the government implemented a law requiring British companies to publicly disclose their ultimate owners no matter how many shell companies were involved.
• That year, MRGC 2013 submitted a six-page filing with U.K. Companies House showing Zamira Hajiyeva effectively controlled at least 75% of the firm through a trust.
• Yet Zamira’s status as MRGC 2013’s “Person of Significant Control” didn’t last long.
• According to court records, she was replaced by Andreas Georghiou, the head of a Cyprus law firm, on the same day the law went into effect.
• By then, Daniel Werner was no longer a director of MRGC 2013, and by 2017, Trident Trust was out, too.
• In time, Georghiou would transfer control to his niece, Elena Georghiou.

Sources

1. Dirty Money Spotlights Role of Family Offices as Enablers. https://www.wealthmanagement.com/high-net-worth/dirty-money-spotlights-role-family-offices-enablers
2. Dirty money spotlights the role of family offices as enablers. https://www.thestar.com.my/business/2019/07/31/dirty-money-spotlights-role-of-family-offices-as-enablers
3. Dirty Money Spotlights Role of Family Offices as Enablers. https://www.wealthmanagement.com/high-net-worth/dirty-money-spotlights-role-family-offices-enablers
4. Inside the Secretive World of Family Offices - Bloomberg.com. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/storythreads/2022-09-12/inside-the-secretive-world-of-family-offices-that-manage-billionaire-fortunes
5. Jailed banker's wife forfeits £14m London house and golf course after .... https://news.sky.com/story/jailed-bankers-wife-forfeits-14m-london-house-and-golf-course-after-mcmafia-order-13191572
6. Woman subject to UK’s first ‘McMafia’ wealth ... - Guernsey Press. https://guernseypress.com/news/uk-news/2024/08/05/woman-subject-to-uks-first-mcmafia-wealth-order-forfeits-house-and-golf-club/
7. Guernsey linked to Jahangir Hajiyev, and his wife, Zamira, and an Ascot .... https://www.comsuregroup.com/news/guernsey-linked-to-jahangir-hajiyev-and-his-wife-zamira-and-an-ascot-golf-course/
8. Harrods mega-spender loses Supreme Court challenge - BBC News. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-55389134
9. Zamira Hajiyeva: How the wife of a jailed banker spent £16m in ... - BBC. https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-48433012.
10. Dirty money spotlights the role of family offices as enablers https://www.pressreader.com/malaysia/the-star-malaysia-starbiz/20190731/281612422009503