Tory donor Javad Marandi was trusted middleman for oil firm
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Version 0 of 2. David Cameron’s troubles deepened on Saturday night as a Tory donor named in the Panama Papers was revealed as a trusted middleman for a company raided by the Serious Fraud Office, which is investigating what has been described as the world’s biggest bribery scandal. Related: David Cameron: blame me for mishandling Panama Papers news Javad Marandi, who with his wife has donated nearly £250,000 to the Conservatives, appears in a series of emails leaked from the offices of oil services business Unaoil. Unaoil is at the centre of allegations that the business “systematically corrupted the global oil industry” by delivering millions in bribes on behalf of well-known multinationals to secure contracts. A week ago, authorities in Monaco raided the company’s HQ, as well as the homes of some of its bosses, as part of a British-led investigation into a corruption scandal implicating businesses all over the world. Emails obtained by the Age newspaper in Australia, and shared with the Observer, show Marandi made a payment from his personal fortune on the request of Unaoil’s managing director, Reza Raein, to an account in Azerbaijan. The emails suggest that Unaoil also felt confident that Marandi’s contacts could open doors for the company. One email said: “The head of Gipro [Azerbaijan’s state oil company] is Javad’s wife’s uncle, Ilyas! We can approach him at any time we want.” There is no suggestion of criminality or wrongdoing on the part of Marandi, a property and construction tycoon, who is one of Azerbaijan’s richest men and the owner of a £22.5m home in Belgravia, west London. Beyond making one payment on behalf of Unaoil, Marandi denies acting for the company in any respect. A spokesman for Marandi said that he had “never acted for or on behalf of Unaoil, nor been its representative, whether in Azerbaijan or elsewhere. “At the request of a friend (Mr Raein who is and has been a friend of long standing), he arranged for one payment in the range of $50,000 (he does not recall the exact amount) to a Unaoil person in Azerbaijan, which he was told was needed for their operating expenses, pending their set-up of bank accounts in Azerbaijan. This amount was reimbursed by Unaoil.” A spokesman for Unaoil said: “All our dealings with Mr Javad Marandi were legitimate and proper, and all of our offshore corporate structures are 100% legal. Unaoil has had no dealings with Mr Marandi for almost 10 years.” But the relationship between Marandi and Unaoil will be an uncomfortable one for the Tory party at a time of heightened sensitivities. It can also be revealed from the Panama Papers that Marandi, who is said to have two private jets and a taste for fine wines, gave a Knightsbridge apartment to a member of Azerbaijan’s ruling family for £1, on the day of a key change to stamp duty. According to documents among the 11.5m files leaked from the database of the world’s fourth biggest offshore law firm, Mossack Fonseca, Marandi handed over the flat in one of the most exclusive squares in London on the day after George Osborne, the chancellor, announced sweeping changes to stamp duty in the budget. The complicated deal concerning the flat, which is just a stone’s throw from Harrods, started in June 2003, when Marandi bought a 999-year lease on the flat, research carried out on the papers by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) shows. In March 2011, the property was transferred to a British Virgin Islands company called 31 Hans Place Investments Ltd, with the property valued at £3.5m, according to Land Registry documents. Under the old system, the British Virgin Islands company would have “enveloped” the Knightsbridge flat, so that wealthy non-domiciled owners could sell the company’s shares. However, the following two budgets placed charges on such arrangements. Osborne’s 2014 budget then introduced a 15% stamp duty tax on properties worth between £500,000 and £2m. According to a document seen by the Observer, 31 Hans Place Investments Ltd issued 4 million shares to Marandi on 31 March 2014. On the same day, Marandi gifted all the shares to HP3132 Ltd, another BVI company, for £1. The only shareholder of HP3132 is Mirjalal Pashayev, a relative of Azerbaijan’s first lady, Mehriban Aliyeva. |