LS Legal News Bulletin
More Unexplained Wealth Orders?
Wednesday 31st October 2018
Irina Durnova
On 31 January 2018 enforcement authorities in England obtained new rights to apply for "unexplained wealth orders" (UWO) which might be subsequently issued by the High Court.
Unexplained wealth order can be applied either to persons suspected of involvement in serious crime (e.g. money laundering) inside the UK or to Politically Exposed Persons from outside the European Economic Area even without criminality. It requires "suspects" to explain the nature and extent of their interest in particular property, and to explain how the property was obtained.
The identity of the first respondent to UWO proceedings was revealed on 10 October 2018 following the court's discharge of an anonymity order. Mrs Zamira Hajiyeva is the wife of Jahangir Hajiyev, the former Chairman of the state-owned International Bank of Azerbaijan.
The Hight Court made the UWO in February 2018 in respect of a property in London which was purchased in 2009 for £11,500,000 by a BVI company controlled by Mrs Hajiyeva. The court has dismissed Mrs Hajiyeva's grounds and concluded that she was PEP and the evidence provided was not sufficient to show that the property was obtained using lawful income. The court was also not persuaded that the infringement of Mrs Hajiyeva's rights to property under Article 1, Protocol 1 of the European Convention of Human Rights justified the discharge of the UWO.
The decision in National Crime Agency v Hajiyeva (Rev 1) [2018] EWHC 2534 (Admin) covered many of the challenges to unexplained wealth orders and it feels that the judgment may encourage enforcement authorities to apply for Unexplained Wealth Orders at an increased rate.
Should you wish to discuss your situation or have any questions please contact our firm on 020 81 44 55 88, via email on info@LSLegaLUK.com or use our contact box.
