{"id":17977,"date":"2020-12-21T04:06:19","date_gmt":"2020-12-21T09:06:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/?p=17977"},"modified":"2020-12-21T04:06:19","modified_gmt":"2020-12-21T09:06:19","slug":"harrods-mega-spender-loses-supreme-court-challenge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/2020\/12\/21\/harrods-mega-spender-loses-supreme-court-challenge\/","title":{"rendered":"Harrods mega-spender loses Supreme Court challenge"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"css-uf6wea-RichTextComponentWrapper e1xue1i83\" data-component=\"text-block\">\n<div class=\"css-83cqas-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi2\">\n<p><b class=\"css-14iz86j-BoldText e5tfeyi0\">The Supreme Court has rejected an attempt by a woman who spent \u00a316m in Harrods to overturn the UK&#8217;s first Unexplained Wealth Order (UWO).<\/b><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"css-uf6wea-RichTextComponentWrapper e1xue1i83\" data-component=\"text-block\">\n<div class=\"css-83cqas-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi2\">\n<p>Zamira Hajiyeva, wife of a jailed banker, may now lose her \u00a312m London home &#8211; and a separate golf course &#8211; if she can&#8217;t explain her riches.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"css-uf6wea-RichTextComponentWrapper e1xue1i83\" data-component=\"text-block\">\n<div class=\"css-83cqas-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi2\">\n<p>The court said her challenge to the UWO raised no arguable point of law.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"css-uf6wea-RichTextComponentWrapper e1xue1i83\" data-component=\"text-block\">\n<div class=\"css-83cqas-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi2\">\n<p>Mrs Hajieyva&#8217;s husband is in jail in Azerbaijan for embezzling millions of pounds from a state bank.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"css-uf6wea-RichTextComponentWrapper e1xue1i83\" data-component=\"unordered-list-block\">\n<div class=\"css-83cqas-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi2\">\n<div class=\"css-1pzprxn-BulletListContainer e5tfeyi3\">\n<ul role=\"list\">\n<li><a class=\"css-yidnqd-InlineLink e1no5rhv0\" href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/news\/uk-50763204\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Woman in \u00a316m Harrods spend fights wealth seizure<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a class=\"css-yidnqd-InlineLink e1no5rhv0\" href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/news\/uk-48433012\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">How to spend \u00a316m in Harrods<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"css-uf6wea-RichTextComponentWrapper e1xue1i83\" data-component=\"text-block\">\n<div class=\"css-83cqas-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi2\">\n<p>Offshore companies connected to the family own Mrs Hajiyeva&#8217;s home on an exclusive street in Knightsbridge, as well as the Mill Ride golf course in Berkshire. Together they were worth more than \u00a322m when the legal battle began in February 2018.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"css-uf6wea-RichTextComponentWrapper e1xue1i83\" data-component=\"text-block\">\n<div class=\"css-83cqas-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi2\">\n<p>Over the course of a decade, Mrs Hajiyeva spent \u00a316m in Harrods &#8211; spending that formed part of the NCA&#8217;s investigation into the sources of her wealth.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"css-uf6wea-RichTextComponentWrapper e1xue1i83\" data-component=\"text-block\">\n<div class=\"css-83cqas-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi2\">\n<p>Under a UWO, if a person cannot explain how they became legitimately rich, the courts can fast-track the seizure of their property, without investigators having even proven a crime.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"css-uf6wea-RichTextComponentWrapper e1xue1i83\" data-component=\"text-block\">\n<div class=\"css-83cqas-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi2\">\n<p>Mrs Hajiyeva has denied any wrongdoing and has not been charged with an offence in the UK. Last year a court blocked her potential extradition to Azerbaijan, saying she would not get a fair trial.<\/p>\n<div class=\"css-uf6wea-RichTextComponentWrapper e1xue1i83\" data-component=\"text-block\">\n<div class=\"css-83cqas-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi2\">\n<p>Her lawyers had petitioned the Supreme Court to consider her case, saying she had not been lawfully targeted by the NCA.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"css-uf6wea-RichTextComponentWrapper e1xue1i83\" data-component=\"text-block\">\n<div class=\"css-83cqas-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi2\">\n<p>That application has now been rejected without the court hearing the case at all &#8211; meaning that all her rights of appeal are now exhausted.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"css-uf6wea-RichTextComponentWrapper e1xue1i83\" data-component=\"text-block\">\n<div class=\"css-83cqas-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi2\">\n<p>Graeme Biggar, head of the National Economic Crime Centre at the NCA, said: &#8220;This is a significant result which is important in establishing Unexplained Wealth Orders as a powerful tool for financial investigations.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"css-uf6wea-RichTextComponentWrapper e1xue1i83\" data-component=\"text-block\">\n<div class=\"css-83cqas-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi2\">\n<p>&#8220;There are no further routes for Mrs Hajiyeva to appeal against the order. She will now be required to provide the NCA with the information we are seeking in connection with these assets.&#8221;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"css-18mjolk-ComponentWrapper e1xue1i80\" data-component=\"image-block\">\n<figure class=\"css-2y05cd-StyledFigure e34k3c20\">\n<div class=\"css-kwaqyc-StyledFigureContainer e34k3c22\"><span class=\"css-1hq4gmv-Placeholder e16icw910\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"css-evoj7m-Image ee0ct7c0\" src=\"https:\/\/c.files.bbci.co.uk\/1369E\/production\/_105181597_zh.jpg\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ichef.bbci.co.uk\/news\/240\/cpsprodpb\/1369E\/production\/_105181597_zh.jpg 240w, https:\/\/ichef.bbci.co.uk\/news\/320\/cpsprodpb\/1369E\/production\/_105181597_zh.jpg 320w, https:\/\/ichef.bbci.co.uk\/news\/480\/cpsprodpb\/1369E\/production\/_105181597_zh.jpg 480w, https:\/\/ichef.bbci.co.uk\/news\/624\/cpsprodpb\/1369E\/production\/_105181597_zh.jpg 624w, https:\/\/ichef.bbci.co.uk\/news\/800\/cpsprodpb\/1369E\/production\/_105181597_zh.jpg 800w, https:\/\/ichef.bbci.co.uk\/news\/976\/cpsprodpb\/1369E\/production\/_105181597_zh.jpg 976w\" alt=\"Zamira Hajiyeva\" width=\"976\" height=\"549\" \/><\/span><\/div><figcaption class=\"css-1rnnz6t-StyledFigureCaption e34k3c21\">Zamira Hajiyeva: Denies wrongdoing<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"css-uf6wea-RichTextComponentWrapper e1xue1i83\" data-component=\"text-block\">\n<div class=\"css-83cqas-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi2\">\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>The NCA would have set a strict timetable for Mrs Hajiyeva to comply with that demand &#8211; but the Christmas period and the pandemic mean she may have until the end of the winter to provide full answers.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"css-uf6wea-RichTextComponentWrapper e1xue1i83\" data-component=\"text-block\">\n<div class=\"css-83cqas-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi2\">\n<p>Unexplained Wealth Orders, created in 2017, were trumpeted by the government as a major new tool in the fight against corrupt cash in the UK.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"css-uf6wea-RichTextComponentWrapper e1xue1i83\" data-component=\"text-block\">\n<div class=\"css-83cqas-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi2\">\n<p>One of the targets &#8211; a man believed to be money laundering for\u00a0<a class=\"css-yidnqd-InlineLink e1no5rhv0\" href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/news\/uk-54442979\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">a major drugs gang<\/a>\u00a0&#8211; gave up fighting the NCA and handed over his property empire.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"css-uf6wea-RichTextComponentWrapper e1xue1i83\" data-component=\"text-block\">\n<div class=\"css-83cqas-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi2\">\n<p>Another family, part of Kazakhstan&#8217;s ruling elite,\u00a0<a class=\"css-yidnqd-InlineLink e1no5rhv0\" href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/news\/uk-52216011\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">won their case<\/a>\u00a0against the NCA.<\/p>\n<p>Source: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/news\/uk-55389134\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">bbc.co.uk<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<div class=\"mh-excerpt\">The Supreme Court has rejected an attempt by a woman who spent \u00a316m in Harrods to overturn the UK&#8217;s first Unexplained Wealth Order (UWO). Zamira Hajiyeva, wife of a jailed banker, may now lose her <a class=\"mh-excerpt-more\" href=\"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/2020\/12\/21\/harrods-mega-spender-loses-supreme-court-challenge\/\" title=\"Harrods mega-spender loses Supreme Court challenge\">[&#8230;]<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":17978,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pmpro_default_level":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[109,2,4],"tags":[5302,6622,7505,4119,7504,5303,5693],"class_list":{"0":"post-17977","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headline","8":"category-news","9":"category-uk","10":"tag-harrods","11":"tag-knightsbridge","12":"tag-national-economic-crime-centre","13":"tag-nca","14":"tag-uksupreme-court","15":"tag-unexplained-wealth-order","16":"tag-zamira-hajiyeva","17":"pmpro-has-access"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17977","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17977"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17977\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17979,"href":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17977\/revisions\/17979"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17978"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17977"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17977"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17977"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}