Berkshire golf club was bought “as a result of criminal activity”

The wife of a man whose husband is serving a 16-year jail sentence for embezzlement and fraud in Azerbaijan has agreed to give up ownership of a golf club in Berkshire.

Zamira Hajiyeva has also agreed to forfeit a mansion in Knightsbridge worth approximately £14 million, after the High Court ruled that both were purchased as a result of criminal activity and are therefore recoverable.

Her husband Jahangir was the first person in the UK to be handed an unexplained wealth order (UWO), in 2018.

This follows a six-year investigation by the National Crime Agency (NCA) and lengthy civil recovery proceedings.

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The High Court has not made any findings as to whether Zamira knew about the origin of the funds used to pay for the home and golf club.

In a statement, the NCA said that “no reasonable explanation was provided… for the source of funds used to purchase” the golf club or the mansion. It added that “a significant proportion” could be traced directly to agreements used to “conceal the the theft of monies”.

Simon Armstrong, deputy director of NCA Legal, said: “The NCA’s investigation was followed by complex and lengthy litigation, which saw NCA lawyers address numerous challenges and use a range of legal powers introduced by the Criminal Finances Act 2017 to successfully recover assets worth millions of pounds.

“This fantastic result demonstrates how the NCA will deploy all the powers available to identify, pursue and recover the proceeds of crime.”