A community of luxurious houses on London’s “Billionaire’s Row”, upscale resorts in Europe and prime actual property within the Center East has been linked to Mojtaba Khamenei, the son of Iran’s Supreme Chief, in response to a year-long investigation by Bloomberg.
The properties hidden behind shell firms on The Bishops Avenue in north London — a road lined with near-empty mansions guarded by non-public safety — type a part of a monetary community stretching from Tehran to Dubai and Frankfurt.
Possession of the belongings doesn’t seem in Mojtaba Khamenei’s title, however Western intelligence assessments and other people aware of the matter say he has been immediately concerned within the transactions for greater than a decade, as per the report.
LINKS TO IRAN’S POWER CENTRE
Mojtaba Khamenei, 56, is the second-eldest son of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and is thought to be a possible successor. Bloomberg says his abroad investments embrace British property valued at greater than £100 million, a villa in Dubai and luxurious resorts throughout Europe, regardless of US sanctions imposed on him in 2019.
Funds for the purchases have been routed by way of banks within the UK, Switzerland, Liechtenstein and the United Arab Emirates, with the cash originating largely from Iranian oil gross sales. One London property alone was purchased for €33.7 million in 2014, paperwork reviewed by Bloomberg present.
Not one of the data record Mojtaba Khamenei because the proprietor. As an alternative, most of the belongings are linked to Ali Ansari, an Iranian development magnate sanctioned by the UK final yr.
BUSINESS ASSOCIATE DENIES ANY LINKS
British authorities have described Ansari, 57, as a “corrupt Iranian banker and businessman” accused of financially supporting Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). Ansari is just not sanctioned within the EU or the US.
He performed a key function in transferring cash offshore by way of firms registered within the UAE, the Isle of Man and the Caribbean. These entities have been used to amass actual property and hospitality belongings throughout Europe, together with resorts in Frankfurt and Mallorca.
In an announcement by way of his lawyer, Ansari mentioned he “strongly denies that he has ever had any monetary or private relationship with Mojtaba Khamenei” and mentioned he would problem the UK sanctions.
EUROPEAN ASSETS UNDER SCRUTINY
Bloomberg has traced greater than a dozen London properties linked to the community, alongside resorts in Germany and Spain. One Frankfurt resort, later rebranded beneath the Hilton banner, has drawn the eye of native authorities.
A European official concerned in money-laundering probes instructed Bloomberg that the UK’s asset freeze on Ansari might set off pressured gross sales of European holdings if additional sanctions observe.
Inside Iran, the state media has portrayed the Supreme Chief and his household as figures of simplicity, rooted within the beliefs of the 1979 revolution that overthrew the monarchy within the title of Islam and the poor. They’re proven as residing modestly, far faraway from wealth or extra. There’s little public proof to recommend the household has used its abroad holdings to finance an extravagant life-style. Even so, the size and secrecy of the youthful Khamenei’s hidden fortune sits uneasily with the picture of piety and restraint that the regime continues to mission.
The revelations come amid the rising public anger over corruption and financial hardship. The report notes that elite households are sometimes labelled aghazadeh — a time period used to explain youngsters of officers accused of exploiting political connections for wealth.
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