OCCRP (Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project): Rovnag Abdullayev's son bought an apartment for $20 million

Baku/02.02.23/Turan: The international journalistic project on organized crime and corruption (Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project) published an investigation into real estate in London by the ex-head of the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan Rovnag Abdullayev. It is reported that Rovnag Abdullayev's son  Rashad, at the age of 25, purchased an ultra-expensive apartment in Grosvenor Square in London.

The purchase was made through an offshore company in Guernsey. It became possible to establish the belongiong of the  flat to him because according to the UK legislation, the names of the owners of such objects should be open.

However, it appears from available documents that Rashad Abdullayevowns a luxury apartment at number 20 Grosvenor Square. He bought the property in 2019 for £17.3 million ($22.4 million) through an offshore company.

This multi-story building was once used by the US Navy and General Dwight Eisenhower, who headed the Allied Forces Headquarters during World War II. In 2014, it was converted into a luxury residential building, which includes a wine cellar with a sommelier and a 25-meter swimming pool. Residents are served around the clock by the "Four Seasons" hotel chain.

 A well-known businessmen, including Russian billionaire Dmitry Rybolovlev, bought apartments in the same building,Telegraph reported last March. However, the fact that the four-bedroom apartment located on the third floor belongs to Rashad Abdullayev has become known only now.

A Guernsey-based firm, Mount Street Investments PCC, filed a return just over a week ago. According to the documents, Rashad Abdullayev became its owner in June 2019.

Rashad Abdullayev did not respond to requests for comment. His father, Rovnag Abdullayev, stated in a letter to journalists that he did not make any payments in connection with his son's apartment and did not know anything about the origin of the money that was used to buy it.

“Even if Rashad Abdullayev bought the aforementioned apartment,” he wrote, “I sincerely believe that he did not make any illegal transactions, that he has all the necessary documents in this regard and that they all comply with the requirements of the law.”

According to SOCAR's annual reports, the annual salary and bonuses of the president and about a dozen vice-presidents amount to less than $800,000, which means that London real estate could not be purchased only with Abdullayev's official earnings. Rovnag Abdullayev denied the information that his son worked at SOCAR Trading.

While living in Turkey, Rashad Abdullayev founded a real estate investment and advisory company. Rashad Abdullayev also owned a restaurant in Bodrum for several years and was a co-owner of a network of gas stations in Georgia.

“SOCAR is the leading corrupt state company in Azerbaijan,” said Gubad Ibadoglu, an Azerbaijani economist. “They don’t tell anything: they don’t report how much money they receive, how much taxes they pay.”

In the same year that the apartment in Grosvenor Square was purchased, Rashad Abdullayev, then 25, was robbed of a $1.35 million wristwatch on the island of Ibiza, although this was denied by a SOCAR representative. ---0---