Zamira Hajiyeva, the wife of a jailed Azerbaijani banker, has agreed to forfeit a £14 million Knightsbridge property, located near Harrods, as well as a prestigious golf club in Ascot, following a lengthy investigation by the National Crime Agency (NCA). The move comes after a six-year probe into the origins of the assets, which the NCA believes were acquired through large-scale fraud and embezzlement.
Mrs Hajiyeva’s husband, Jahangir Hajiyev, is currently serving a 16-year prison sentence in Baku for offences including abuse of office and fraud during his tenure as chairman of the International Bank of Azerbaijan (IBA) from 2001 to 2015. The NCA concluded that the luxury assets obtained by the Hajiyeva family were a direct result of unlawful conduct, including false accounting and money laundering.
The investigation revealed that money embezzled from the IBA was funnelled through various shell companies across multiple jurisdictions, including the British Virgin Islands, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Panama, Cyprus, and Luxembourg before being used to acquire high-end assets in the UK.
Tim Quarrelle, branch commander for Asset Denial at the NCA, praised the agency’s tireless efforts: “NCA officers worked tirelessly to track the complex movement of these funds across the international banking system, through shell companies in multiple jurisdictions, in order to ascertain their source.”
The case is notable as it marks one of the first major successes involving an unexplained wealth order (UWO), which was introduced under the Criminal Finances Act 2017. The NCA served Mrs. Hajiyeva with the first-ever UWO over six years ago, requiring her to explain how she could afford such lavish assets without clear legitimate sources of income. The legal action resulted in Mrs. Hajiyeva’s agreement to surrender the property and the golf club.
Simon Armstrong, deputy director at NCA Legal, also commented on the significance of the case: “The NCA’s investigation was followed by complex and lengthy litigation, which saw NCA lawyers address numerous challenges and use a range of legal powers introduced by the Criminal Finances Act 2017 to successfully recover assets worth millions of pounds. This fantastic result demonstrates how the NCA will deploy all the powers available to identify, pursue, and recover the proceeds of crime.”
The case highlights the UK’s ongoing efforts to clamp down on illicit financial flows and money laundering, particularly from high-risk jurisdictions. The forfeiture of these assets sends a strong message that the UK will use every tool at its disposal to combat the flow of illicit money into the country.
The NCA continues to monitor cases like these and work towards recovering further proceeds of crime to safeguard the integrity of the UK’s financial system.
