Children of the President and the Minister of Azerbaijan own luxury real estate and offshore companies: investigation

Children of President Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan and Minister of Emergency Situations of Azerbaijan Kyamaleddin Heydarov used dozens of offshore companies to invest in business, expensive real estate and modern hotels throughout Europe and the Middle East, journalists from the OCCRP consortium (project to investigate corruption and organized crime) found out.

Photo: depositphotos.com

According to "Currently,“, the investigation was carried out by reporters from 18 leading world publications after the death of Maltese journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia - she was blown up in her own car in October 2017. Daphne Galizia has published several articles about the activities of the Maltese bank Pilate and the first wrote that he is connected with the Azerbaijani elite, and with the authorities of the island. An investigation by the OCCRP confirmed that the vast majority of the bank’s clients belong to the ruling elite of Azerbaijan.

Among the largest customers of the bank Pilate were the daughters of Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, Leyla and Arzu. They were the ultimate beneficiaries of several offshore companies, three sources told the OCCRP.

The beneficiaries of other offshore companies associated with the Aliyev family were the two sons of the head of the Emergencies Ministry of Azerbaijan, Kyamaleddin Heydarov, Tale and Nijat, said the same sources.

Leila and Arzu Aliyev. Photo: facebook.com/aarzualiyeva

Kamaleddin Heydarov is one of the most influential people in Azerbaijan. He is called "the minister of everything that matters." From 1995 to 2006, he headed the country's customs, and, as stated in the leaks, Wikileaks, the department under his leadership was “extremely corrupt even by Azerbaijani standards.”

The lawyer of the Heydarov brothers declared that his clients owned companies with bank accounts. Pilate for “conducting a legitimate and law-abiding business.” Aliyev's daughters did not respond to journalists' requests.

Daphne Galicia and its Russian source

First information about Azerbaijani clients of the bank Pilate journalist Daphne Galicia received from the Russian Maria Efimova, a former employee of this bank.

Efimova blamed the bank for not paying her salary, Pilate made retaliatory charges of misappropriating money. After that, the former manager told the journalist about the transfer of 1 million dollars from the account of the Dubai company Sahra fzcoowned by the eldest of Aliyev’s sisters, Leila, offshore company by the wife of Malta’s Prime Minister Joseph Muscat.

A corruption scandal erupted: local television showed bank owner Ali Sadr and top manager Antoniella Gauci leaving office at midnight Pilate with bags of documents. At 4 in the morning, a private plane left Malta and landed in Baku, after which it headed for Dubai.

Six months after the publication, Daphne Galicia was killed. Her informant left Malta and hid in Greece. 12 April, Greece refused to extradite Efimov.

Why Aliyevs transferred money to the wife of the Prime Minister of Malta is unknown. But Joseph Muscat visited Baku several times and met with President Aliyev, while the formal minutes of the meetings of the two leaders of the states were not published. The Prime Minister of Malta also publicly defended the elections that were held in Azerbaijan.

The authorities in Malta later found out that the vast majority of the bank’s 150 customers Pilate belong to the ruling elite of Azerbaijan. It also turned out that many of the bank’s operations were suspicious. The bank did not figure out the origin of the money that politically powerful customers transferred.

“Many transfers were made within the bank from one account to another without apparent commercial meaning,” the Maltese financial authorities said in a report.

In April, the owner PilateIranian citizen Ali Sadr Hasheminejad was accused of money laundering and circumventing sanctions. Malta’s banking regulator froze all of the bank’s assets, including Pilate served in the interests of customers.

Palm Jumeirah and the islands in Dubai

Dubai company Sahra fzco - the one that paid the wife of the Prime Minister of Malta - owns the hotel and mansions on the site of the Palm Jumeirah project in Dubai. This artificial island in the shape of a palm tree was built specifically for the construction of luxury real estate on it.

Company Sahra fzco owned hotel Sofitel Palm Resort & Spa - 361 number and 182 apartment. According to promotional materials, the hotel has an exclusive beach half a kilometer long, and from its windows offers stunning views of Dubai.

Hotels and mansions of the Aliyevs and Heydarovs in Dubai. OCCRP Infographics

The same company owns 17 mansions in the best places of the Palm Jumeirah project - the tips of the “palm leaves”. The total cost of this property is about $100 million. Another mansion is owned by Palm fronds, this company is registered to “Ilham Aliyev”, the full namesake of the President of Azerbaijan. The company uses the same postal address in Dubai as his daughters Arzu and Leyla.

A previous investigation by the OCCRP stated that the Aliyev family owns a network of luxury hotels in Baku and real estate abroad with a total value of at least $ 100 million.

According to another investigation by a consortium of journalists, the Azerbaijani authorities laundered $ 2,9 billion.

According to data obtained by the OCCRP, the sons of Emergency Situations Minister Tale and Nijat Heydarov own nine mansions on Palm Jumeirah worth about $ 33 million.

Business Empire in Azerbaijan

In 2013, it turned out that one of the largest holdings in Azerbaijan was Gilan Holding - owned by two companies registered in Dubai: Sahra fzco with a share in 51% and Shams al sahra fzco with 49%. According to the audit, the ultimate owners of the two structures are the sons of the head of the Emergencies Ministry, Tale and Nijat Heydarov. This data was later deleted.

According to the official version, Kamaleddin Heydarov founded his business in 1987, before the collapse of the USSR, and handed it over to his sons and “senior managers” in 1995, when he received the post of head of customs (then the eldest son was only 10 years old). But journalists were unable to find any traces of Heydarov’s business before he became an official.

Since the company Sahra fzco now owned by Aliyev’s daughters, journalists suggest that the Heydarovs were either initially a “laying lining” for the president’s family, or transferred or sold control over the Azerbaijani leader’s family Gilan Holding.

French porcelain and Georgian resort

Reporters studying bank documents Pilate, found that the Heydarov brothers are also beneficiaries of the French company Heritage Collection. This company owns several companies that produce traditional handmade goods.

On behalf of this company, the Heydarovs purchased a high-end porcelain manufacturer Jl coquet, a factory of luxury bed linen Porthaultand workshop Leblon Deliennethat makes figurines of cartoon characters.

According to OCCRP sources, the Heydarovs used Pilate to invest 3,9 million euros in real estate in Spanish Marbella and 2,5 million euros in a Georgian resort in the town of Tskaltubo, where they plan to build a four-star hotel.

Sources also reported that the Heydarov family, through proxies, controls the structures that own property in the UK and Spain with a total value of 40 million euros.

Read also on ForumDaily:

An immigrant from Kazakhstan gave birth in the United States at home and now cannot receive documents for a child

Who is Emin Agalarov and what does he associate with the Trump family?

“Miami is ours”: why Russian businessmen and bandits settle in Trump towers

Do you want more important and interesting news about life in the USA and immigration to America? — support us donate! Also subscribe to our page Facebook. Select the “Priority in display” option and read us first. Also, don't forget to subscribe to our РєР ° РЅР ° Р »РІ Telegram  and Instagram- there is a lot of interesting things there. And join thousands of readers ForumDaily New York — there you will find a lot of interesting and positive information about life in the metropolis.