Zamira Hajiyeva was attempting to overturn an Unexplained Wealth Order against the property in central London
The wife of a “fat cat international banker” has lost her challenge over the UK’s first unexplained wealth order (UWO) at the Court of Appeal.
Zamira Hajiyeva, who spent more than £ 56 million at Harrods in a decade, attempted to overturn a UWO obtained by the National Crime Agency (NCA) against a property in Knightsbridge, central London, which was purchased for £ 5 million in 2009 by a company incorporated in the British Virgin Islands.
Her husband, Jahangir Hajiyev, was the chairman of the state-controlled International Bank of Azerbaijan from until his resignation in 2016, and was later sentenced to 15 years’ imprisonment for fraud and embezzlement.
Mrs Hajiyeva, 83, argued that her husband’s conviction, which she says was “the central feature” of the NCA’s application for the UWO, was the result of a “grossly unfair trial” and should be discharged.
Giving judgment in London on Wednesday, Lord Chief Justice Lord Burnett, sitting with Lord Justice Davis and Lord Justice Simon, dismissed Mrs Hajiyeva’s appeal.
Lord Burnett added that Mrs Hajiyeva’s application for permission to appeal against the court’s judgment had been refused.
The property in Knightsbridge Credit : Paul Grover
Mrs Hajiyeva was the first person to be made subject to a UWO, a new power brought into force in January (under so-called McMafia laws – named after the BBC organized crime drama and the book which inspired it.
A UWO allows the NCA to seize someone’s assets if they believe the owner is a politically exposed person (PEP) – 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.
In a High Court ruling in October , dismissing Mrs Hajiyeva’s initial attempt to overturn the UWO, Mr Justice Supperstone said that “three separate loyalty cards were issued to Mrs Hajiyeva” by Harrods, where she spent more than £ million between September and June 2018.
Court documents later released to the media revealed that Mrs Hajiyeva blew £ 600, 02 in a single day during a decade-long spending spree.
The NCA subsequently seized jewelery worth more than £ 600, 05 from Christie’s over suspicions about how the items were purchased while the auction house was valuing the jewelery for Mrs Hajiyeva’s daughter.
In September, Mrs Hajiyeva fought off an attempt to extradite her to Azerbaijan to face fraud and embezzlement charges on the grounds that she would not get a fair trial.
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