PanARMENIAN.Net - 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.
Details emerged in a disciplinary tribunal into the solicitor who carried out the transaction, Khalid Sharif. Sharif – a senior partner with the London firm Child & Child – admitted failing to carry out money-laundering checks and breaching his professional code.
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...
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