The National Crime Agency can seize £5.6m from a sophisticated global money laundering scheme involving UK companies, a court has ruled.
They showed $2.9bn had been moved into Western Europe by some of the Azeri elite, while UK shell companies - largely existing only on paper - hid the true sources of the cash."Having exhaustively considered the evidence filed," district judge John Zani told Westminster Magistrates' Court, "I am entirely satisfied that there was a significant money laundering scheme in existence in Azerbaijan, Estonia and Latvia, at the relevant time.
Judge Zani said invoices the company had filed to banks in Estonia and Latvia were "entirely fictitious and were produced in order to deceive the bank into opening accounts and allowing the later flow of very significant sums into and out of their accounts so as to mask the underlying money laundering activities of those orchestrating the accounts".Legal documents show Avromed LLC was founded by Mr Feyziyev.
"The adverse findings in this matter relate to money which, before it was paid to Dr Feyziyev, flowed through various intermediaries of which the family had neither knowledge, nor control," a spokesman said. "There is over £700m that we've identified in real estate owned here by the ruling elite of Azerbaijan," Transparency UK policy director Duncan Hames said."If they had the resources to pursue more cases, it could make a bigger dent in Britain's dirty money problem."
Surprised its still there to seize; if they have to go to court first. Make sure judges have taken their money out first?
Interesting how the UK courts are so proactive with this kind of dirty money, but were so anxious to help out the banking and financial sectors in refusing to return to Russia the huge amounts of money looted by kleptocrats and hidden in Londongrad.
Small beans after Rishi Sunak dropped criminals £4.3billion, but good on 'em anyway.
Any news on the Russian money in Tory accounts?
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