Azerbaijan’s ruling families are the alleged beneficiaries of dozens of anonymously owned companies that have been used to invest in property, hotels and businesses in Europe, according to an investigation by the Daphne Project.
Over the past three years, several networks of companies appear to have used a private bank in Malta for secret investments in the UK, Spain, France, Georgia and Montenegro, research by the project found.
Many of the companies were allegedly operated for the benefit of the children of Ilham Aliyev, Azerbaijan’s president, and the sons of his minister for emergency situations, Kamaladdin Heydarov, according to three sources with knowledge of the transactions.
The Azerbaijani president's children and the Dubai property empire
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Their claims are supported by information in the public domain, and a leak from Dubai residency records.
Robert Baker, an Australian who lives in Britain, appears as a director of multiple entities with Pilatus accounts. Public filings list his address as a £2m house in west London.
The largest grouping of companies, owned by the Heydarov brothers via anonymous New Zealand holding companies set up as recently as November, has invested tens of millions of pounds in European assets.