In the United Kingdom, lawyer Rory Fordays has been fined £32,500 (approximately $42,000) for negligence in conducting checks on funds linked to the family of former Azerbaijani Minister of National Security, Eldar Mahmudov.
According to the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP), the decision was issued by the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal (SDT) of the UK. Additionally, Fordays has been banned from holding managerial or compliance-related roles at law firms for five years and must also pay £50,000 (about $64,000) in legal costs.
The tribunal described Fordays’ checks as “rudimentary, piecemeal and naive” The court noted that between 2013 and April 2015, large sums of money were transferred twice by family members of Anar Mahmudov, the son of Eldar Mahmudov, into an account held by the law firm “Taylor Fordyce,” where Fordays served as a director.
One of these payments — more than £1.9 million — was used by a company called “Continental Properties Limited” to purchase a commercial property in southern England. Although the specific address was not disclosed, OCCRP reported that in May 2015, Continental Properties bought a property in Newbury housing shops such as Pizza Hut, Greggs, and the Salvation Army for £1.85 million (approximately $2.9 million).
According to the SDT, Fordays informed regulators that Continental Properties ultimately belonged to a trust named Continental Trust, which had been established by Anar Mahmudov as the settlor. He also stated that Mahmudov was neither a director, shareholder, nor a beneficial owner of Continental Properties Ltd, and that both Mahmudov and his wife had been removed from the list of trust beneficiaries.
The SDT concluded that Fordays relied too heavily on conflicting information provided by Mahmudov’s representatives and prioritized the property transaction without requesting proper documentation.
Helen Taylor, deputy director of the international anti-corruption organization Spotlight on Corruption, said this case raises fresh questions about the flow of Azerbaijani-origin money into the UK real estate market. She emphasized that small law firms’ reluctance to ask tough questions of large or wealthy clients creates a fertile ground for corruption.
In a previous OCCRP investigation, it was revealed that the Mahmudov family had built a business and real estate empire in Europe worth at least €100 million. The property in question was not included in that list.
A lawyer for the Mahmudov family had earlier told OCCRP that the family’s wealth dates back to the 19th century and all assets have been legally registered.
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