Business
Registered BVI Company Listed In European Money-Laundering Scheme
A company registered in the British Virgin Islands with ties to wealthy British businessman Javad Marandi was listed in a money-laundering scheme involving one of Azerbaijan’s richest oligarchs.
A National Crime Agency (NCA) investigation found that Marandi, a major donor to the United Kingdom Conservative Party, overseas interests were part of a three-billion dollars money laundering scheme.
A BBC story said the Organised Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) revealed that $2.9bn (£2.3bn) of dirty money – cash stolen from Azerbaijan’s people and economy – had been spirited away by members of the country’s elite. It was largely for their own benefit, but also to bribe European politicians.
A total of $106.9m (£85.4m) was paid to Vynehill Enterprises, a British Virgin Islands company beneficially owned by Marandi, according to the BBC story.
Marandi, who owns Conran Shop, a stake in Anya Hindmarch Ltd, the luxury handbag firm, and an exclusive private members’ club and hotel in Oxfordshire, denies any wrongdoing.
He also heads the Marandi Foundation, which funds the Prince and Princess of Wales’s charity, and according to Electoral Commission records, he donated £633,800 to the Conservative Party between 2014 and 2020. Marandi unsuccessfully attempted to keep his name out of the media.
Director of policy at the anti-corruption research group Transparency International UK Duncan Hames called Marandi’s donation to the Conservative Party is a “ political bombshell.”