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Illegal funds from Azerbaijan were used by a London couple to transport female models to Ibiza by private jet and pay school fees, a court has heard in a case conducted under the veil of secrecy.
The National Crime Agency alleges the spending came from almost £ 14million of corrupt money channeled into this country through a complex network of ‘brass’ companies and Baltic banks.
He says a dentist in Belgium was named as the source of some of the cash and that the funds were held here in accounts with Queen Coutts’ bank and other prominent institutions, including Barclays and Santander.
The couple, who own several mortgage-free properties in London, claim the money comes from renting properties in Azerbaijan.
But the National Crime Agency alleges instead that it is probably the proceeds of “corruption, theft or embezzlement” and tries to seize it through a series of forfeiture orders.
He told Westminster magistrates that one of the couples gave Coutts false information about their identity and that the couple’s money arrived in that country through the “Azerbaijani laundry” system.
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A party in a club in Ibiza. The couple allegedly flew models on the island
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He said this involved “channels of businesses whose leaders are straw men” used to launder money illegally produced by “the ruling elite” in Azerbaijan and that the evidence suggests the couple were beneficiaries. “Payments made by or on behalf of” important personalities in Azerbaijan.
In support of their thesis, NCA points out that instead of receiving direct payments from Azerbaijan to their London accounts, the couple instead got their money from transfers through 21 companies with accounts in Estonia and Latvia. in a way that “would not necessarily involve a trace of bank transactions.” ”
He points out that these methods “are not unknown to UK law enforcement and may or may not involve criminal property”, but can be “a very convenient way for those who may wish to seek to overlap and integrate criminal funds in an (otherwise) legitimate banking system. ”
The couple’s identities are kept secret by a court order, which the Evening Standard challenges for reasons of open justice and transparency, and are mentioned in a court document obtained by this newspaper under the name of X, the husband and his wife. woman Y.
In the document, which sets out her case, the NCA says that Ms Y “lived in London for a few years” and was apparently accepted by the Home Office as having “some legitimate personal wealth”.
He also concedes that the couple are likely to have “access to significant wealth in Azerbaijan and rental income there.
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But he says the amounts received into their London accounts are double the rental profits they claimed to be the source of their wealth in an interview with law enforcement and “well over double the figure of business of their rental income reported to Coutts’ before that.
The document therefore indicates that “the court will be invited to deduce from the evidence that X and Y used the services of the” Azerbaijani laundromat “to receive, on their British accounts, substantial sums over the period 2007-2018”.
He adds: “The amounts received appear from the evidence to be significantly higher than the rents likely to have been generated by their portfolio of properties in Azerbaijan. They are more likely to be simply the recipients of payments made by or on behalf of [redacted] in Azerbaijan. ”
The NCA document points out that Mr X was unable, during the interview, to explain the role of most of the 21 companies used to transfer funds to the couple’s London accounts and that At least six of these companies have been cited as being involved in the Azerbaijan Laundromat.
The NCA says several of the 21 companies that paid the couple money also received funds from three other “core” UK laundry companies used to funnel illicit funds.
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He adds that “a name linked to a dentist residing in Belgium” was given as the person submitting the accounts of two of the companies involved but that this could be a case of “identity theft” and that all “persons” involved in sending money to the couple’s London accounts are “brass” companies.
He gives examples of two “letterbox showcases” in Ayr and Stirling and lists other companies registered in Seychelles, Marshall Islands, Belize and Hong Kong among those used to pay the couple money.
The document also highlights the activities of one of the companies involved “from whom X and Y received over £ 1.6million” as “an interesting case”.
“In June 2014, he chartered a private jet to take a group of seven men and five young models to Ibiza; he also made payments to a number of private schools and other educational institutions in the UK, ”he says.
The NCA also reveals that each of the 21 companies involved in transferring money to the couple were using accounts at Danske Estonia or ABLV Latvia banks.
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It indicates that the latter was closed in 2018 following the imposition of “special measures by the US authorities” and that the “portfolio of non-resident clients held by the Estonian branch of Danske Bank” was also “closed in the end of 2015 ”. with some staff accused of money laundering and reports of “inadequate controls”.
Lawyers for Mr X and Ms Y insisted their clients were innocent of any wrongdoing and told Westminster magistrates they would challenge the forfeiture in a final hearing.
New details in the case follow the release of a more limited document by Westminster magistrates in an earlier hearing, after which Chief Magistrate Emma Arbuthnot ruled the Standard “had an important story to tell On the allegations against the couple.
Judge Arbuthnot said the newspaper had an “appropriate journalistic interest” in wanting court documents on the case and “was concerned about the flow of ‘dirty money’ to the UK.” She said that Mr. X “is linked to senior officials of the Azerbaijani government” and that the denunciation was “not prevented but delayed” by his anonymity decision.
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