Assets of Harrods ‘big spender’ may not stay in Britain

 Britain may be forced to share any assets seized from the Harrods “big spender” Zamira Hajiyeva with Azerbaijan, the National Crime Agency chief has said.

Mrs Hajiyeva, 55, is at the centre of a financial investigation amid allegations she used her husband Jahangir’s stolen money to fund a lavish lifestyle.

Donald Toon, the agency’s director of economic crime, has revealed that any money recovered from Mrs Hajiyeva may have to be returned to her native country if that is where the funds were fraudulently raised.

He outlined how the High Court battle surrounding the UK’S first Unexplained Wealth Order would see any confiscated cash become a “political and international issue”.

Mr Hajiyev, the former chairman of the International Bank of Azerbaijan, was jailed for 15 years in 2016 for defrauding it out of £2.2billion.

His wife has lived in Knightsbridge for a decade and spent more than £16million in Harrods over that period of time. She risks losing her £15million home near the London store and a Berkshire golf course if she fails to explain the source of her wealth to the High Court.