A great step in the fight against corruption and money laundering was done in London this week. The first ever Unexplained Wealth Order (UWO) was obtained by the UK National Crime Agency (NCA). It forces owners to disclose the source of their wealth. The Azerbaijan native Zamira Hajiyeva, who is the subject of the orders spent more than £16 million over a decade at luxury department store Harrods. An anonymity order was lifted Wednesday after a judge ruling.
According to the British SUN, the 55-year-old Zamira HAJIYEVA spent the eye-watering sum at the luxury store between 2006 and 2016, totaling around £4,000 a day. She also owns two properties with a combined worth of £22 million.
Her husband, Jahangir HAJIYEV, used to be the chairman of the state-controlled International Bank of Azerbaijan until 2015. He was later sentenced to 15 years on fraud and embezzlement charges as well as being ordered to repay $39m.
The unexplained wealth order (UWO) a new power given to law enforcement agencies to tackle suspected corruption. It requires “a person who is reasonably suspected of involvement in, or of being connected to a person involved in, serious crime” to explain how their property was obtained if their lawful income appears to be insufficient to afford it.
NCA statement on Unexplained Wealth Orders from Donald Toon, Director for Economic Crime pic.twitter.com/1BriDz3bPE
— NationalCrimeAgency (@NCA_UK) October 10, 2018
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“We are delighted that this first case is progressing in court, underlining the effectiveness of unexplained wealth orders in targeting suspicious wealth,” said the organization’s director, Duncan Hames.
Well, let’s ask the UWO question here on FinTelegram: who has information on how Zamira HAJIYEVA acquired her unexplained wealth!
