This is a Political Bomb: Details on the Billions of Dollars Being Extracted from Azerbaijan

After more than a year and a half of legal wrangling, a London court has allowed the BBC to reveal the name of a prominent British businessman involved in the extraction of billions of dollars from Azerbaijan: Javad Marandi, a British businessman of Iranian origin. He is a businessman with close ties to Azerbaijan's ruling family and a major donor to the ruling party in the UK.

Marandi is considered a key player in what has been termed the ‘Azerbaijani Laundromat.’ He aided Azerbaijan's ruling elite in transferring $3 billion out of the country. Investigative journalists revealed in a controversial report in 2017 that most of these funds were used by Azerbaijan's ruling family to bribe European politicians.

British authorities had previously uncovered that the task of extracting Azerbaijani funds was entrusted to one of the richest oligarchs active in London, MP Javanshir Feyziyev. During the investigation, a connection to Marandi was discovered; however, for reasons yet to be disclosed, the court initially ruled in favor of Marandi's request not to reveal his name.

The businessman vehemently denies any wrongdoing and insists that the criminal case does not personally involve him. According to the BBC, referencing the results of the investigation, the Azerbaijani oligarch, whose British assets' legality is still disputed in a London court, has engaged in multimillion-pound financial transactions specifically with Marandi.

Central to this money laundering scheme were companies operating under the name Avromed, one of which was registered in the Seychelles back in 2005, with Marandi being its chief beneficiary. The 55-year-old Iranian businessman is a British citizen and is portrayed by the British press as a successful entrepreneur and philanthropist. His business network includes famous fashion and design brands, as well as hotels.

Besides the UK, he also has businesses in Azerbaijan, including dozens of McDonald's restaurants and a tobacco business. According to Azerbaijani Meydan TV, Marandi has also long headed Pasha Construction, a major real estate company linked to Azerbaijan's ruling family. Interestingly, Azerbaijani media reports that his wife, Narmina, is of Azerbaijani descent.

Marandi's connections with the UK's ruling Conservative Party became known to journalists due to his large donations; according to official sources, from 2014 to 2020, he donated nearly a million dollars to the Tories.

“This is a political bomb,” said Duncan Haymes, a representative of Transparency International's British office, in an interview with the BBC, asserting that the Conservatives are now obligated to answer a series of uncomfortable questions. “Today we learned that someone who has made donations in the hundreds of thousands to a British political party has been at the center of an investigation into a major money laundering scheme, according to the judge. This raises concerns not only about the source of those funds but also about how easily such money can end up in the hands of political parties without proper checks on their source,” emphasized the British human rights advocate.