Wife of jailed banker loses appeal to keep £15m London mansion
THE wife of an international banker jailed for a £2.2billion fraud has lost an appeal to keep her £15million Knightsbridge home after refusing to abide by new “Mcmafia” laws and explain the source of her wealth.
Zamira Hajiyeva, who spent more than £16million at Harrods over a decade, was the first person to be given an unexplained wealth order in the UK.
She has now failed in an attempt to have the order overturned at the Court of Appeal and has 28 days to launch another appeal, or to provide the National Crime Agency (NCA) with proof of the provenance of her income.
If she does not, the NCA will execute an order to seize her west London mansion, bought for £11.5 million in 2009. It is now thought to be worth £15million.
Mrs Hajiyeva, 56, was challenged by the NCA amid allegations that she used stolen money to fund an extraordinarily lavish lifestyle. Her husband Jahangir
Hajiyeva is the former chairman of the state-owned International Bank of Azerbaijan, who was sentenced to 15 years in jail in 2016 for defrauding the bank of £2.2billion.
Mrs Hajiyeva argued that her husband’s conviction, which she says was “the central feature” of the NCA’S appli- cation for the wealth order, was the result of a “grossly unfair trial” and should be discharged.
In a statement after the ruling, Sarah Pritchard, director of the NCA’S National Economic Crime Centre, said: “This is a significant result, which is important in establishing unexplained wealth orders as a powerful tool helping us to investigate illicit finance generated in, or flowing through, the UK. As a new piece of legislation we anticipated that there would be legal challenge – we are pleased that the court has upheld the case today.”
Mrs Hajiyeva was the first person to be made subject to a wealth order, which came into force in January 2018. It allows the NCA to seize someone’s assets if they believe the owner is a politically exposed person – someone from outside the European Economic Area in a position of power that makes them liable to bribery or corruption – and they are unable to explain the source of their wealth. The Court of Appeal ruled that Mr Hajiyeva was such “a politically exposed person” and, as his wife, so was Mrs Hajiyeva.
As well as spending more than £16 million in Harrods, Mrs Hajiyeva also bought the Mill Ride Golf and Country Club in Ascot for £10.5 million and is said to have owned a £35 million jet and a fine wines cellar.