Elite real estate of Azerbaijani President's sister Sevil Aliyeva discovered in France

Real estate of Sevil Aliyeva in France

Journalists in France have found evidence of the acquisition by Sevil Aliyeva, the sister of Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, of luxury real estate worth at least 52 million euros. Purchases were made from 1999 to 2008. It is noted that Sevil Aliyeva is also the owner of several houses in one of the richest areas of London.

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The French magazine L’Obs published an article entitled “Luxury real estate: how France attracts dubious money from around the world”, which notes that over 60 foreign figures, heads of state, ministers and dubious businessmen have invested hundreds of millions of euros in France to buy luxury houses or apartments.

“The sea view is dazzling. One of those postcard embellishments attracts the vast fortunes of the world. The villa and its pool, surrounded by pine trees, in one of the most popular corners of Saint-Tropez, invite to contemplation. The owner of the place must like it so much that she even bought … a house next door.

Through two civil real estate companies (SCIs) named Zebra and La Grenouille, a certain Sevil Aliyeva purchased in 1999 the first residence, which included fifteen rooms, as well as the three-room caretaker’s apartment, for 5.2 million euros; then the second, in 2008, worth 15.9 million”, the article says.

Sevil Aliyeva, the only daughter of the ex-president of Azerbaijan, Heydar Aliyev, and sister of the current president of the country, Ilham Aliyev, was born in 1955 in Baku.
She is a composer and the head of the Azerbaijani TV channel Space. This is the only enterprise in Azerbaijan associated with the name of Sevil Aliyeva.
She currently lives in London.

According to the French publication, these two houses in Saint-Tropez represent only a part of Sevil Aliyeva’s real estate assets in France.

`In the 16th arrondissement of Paris, she also bought a private mansion with an indoor pool through the SCI Taureau in 2005. The transaction amounted to 11.5 million euros and was paid without taking out a mortgage to secure a possible loan, like almost all of her purchases.

But this is not the end. French journalists claim that Sevil Aliyeva also owns four apartments near the Champs-Elysées with a total value of more than 14 million euros, in houses called “Success”, “Big Success” and “Chance”:

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She also owns houses in Bolton, one of the most expensive areas in London, where she says she lives. These properties were bought through offshore companies.

In some official documents related to her real estate transactions in France, Sevil Aliyeva declares herself a “composer” – she released two CDs about ten years ago, but they are no longer on sale. And in other documents, she says that she is currently unemployed.

“Where did the 52 million euros (at least) that Sevil Aliyeva invested in real estate in France come from? It is impossible to know. We tried to get in touch, but the sister of the President of Azerbaijan did not answer our calls”, the magazine writes.