Baku. 12 October. REPORT.AZ/ Britain may be forced to hand back millions of pounds seized from the Harrods 'big spender' to Azerbaijan. Report informs citing The Telegraph that the due information was disseminated by the National Crime Agency (NCA).
Donald Toon, the agency’s director of economic crime, has revealed that if the High Court rules Zamira Hajiyeva had used fraudulent funds any property and money seized from her would be returned to her native country.
Her husband, Jahangir Hajiyev, the former chairman of the International Bank of Azerbaijan, was sentenced to 15 years imprisonment in 2016 for defrauding the bank out of £2.2 billion. Recently Jahangir Hajiyev's second criminal case was completed.
In accordance with the Criminal Finance Law of 2017 in the UK, the British authorities have the right to send inquiries about the Unexplained Wealth Order (UWO), and the absence of clear explanations about the occurrence of incomes in excess of £ 50,000 may be the reason for the freezing of assets.
Notably, according to the information from BBC, over ten years Zamira Hajiyeva spent more than £16m in Harrods - the equivalent of more than £4,000 a day.
Examples of her big spending, revealed to the court, included £150,000 spent on a single day on Boucheron - a luxury jewellery, perfume and watches brand.
The next day, the court heard, she topped up the wine cellar by spending £1,800.
On another occasion she spent £100,000 on Cartier jewellery and £20,000 on luxury men's goods.
Official records reveal the couple also own two dedicated bays within the private Harrods car park and Z.Hajiyeva also bought a $42m Gulfstream G550 jet.