UK might arrest multi-million accounts of Azerbaijani parliamentarian
The UK’s National Crime Agency is preparing to seize £15 million [$ 20.5 million] in the bank accounts of Javanshir Feyziyev’s wife, son and nephew. According to the agency, the Azerbaijani MP laundered these funds through the money transfer system disclosed in 2017 by OCCRP.
According to material published by the Organized Crime and Corruption Research Center (OCCRP), the UK’s National Crime Agency (NCA) is not indicting either Feyziev or his family members.
During civil proceedings on November 1, 2021, an NCA lawyer provided detailed analysis supporting the agency’s arguments that the money was flowing through a money laundering system regulated from Azerbaijan.
According to the NCA, the source of this money is “illegal” as it was taken out of Azerbaijan through several shell companies using forged documents to conceal its origin.
“Corruption, theft, fraud and money laundering are likely explanations”, says the British agency.
More than half of the money is on the account of Parvana Feyzieva – the deputy’s wife, a little less – on the account of his son Orkhan Javanshir.
The two have invested some of that money in the UK investment visa program to ensure they can live in the country, the report says.
The smaller part of the sum, just over 1 million pounds, belongs to Feyziev’s nephew Elman Javanshir.
But the case is centered around Feyziev himself. According to the NCA, “the funds to be confiscated mainly came from bank accounts under its control”.
In a statement to the media, a spokesman for the Feyziyev family said they “categorically deny the accusations” and consider them “erroneous”. The agency did not provide “any substantial evidence that the funds in question came from any source related to a criminal offense”, the spokesman said, adding that “the family has full confidence in the British justice system and is looking forward to the exposure of the NCA’s statement”.
It is noted that the NCA refers to previous OCCRP reports about Feyziev. An investigation in 2017 found that two companies bearing the same name as a large Azerbaijani pharmaceutical company founded by Feyziyev received $138 million from an “Azerbaijani laundry”.
Who is Javanshir Feyziev?
The 58-year-old politician was elected a deputy of the Milli Mejlis – the Azerbaijani parliament three times (in 2010, 2015 and 2020). He also served as a member of the parliamentary committee on international relations and inter-parliamentary relations.
Doctor of Philosophy, member of the Board of the Press Council and member of the Writers’ Union of Azerbaijan.
Despite the fact that the deputies, according to the laws of Azerbaijan, are prohibited from doing business, Feyziev is known in the country for owning the pharmaceutical company Avromed although, the company denies this. Later the deputy admitted that until 2010 he worked as a director of the company, but in 2016 he sold his shares.
Not so long ago, in 2019, the name of Javanshir Feyziyev appeared in the scandalous case of the purchase of luxurious real estate in the center of Baku.
