Leyla, Arzu, and Heydar Aliyev Own Multi-Million Dollar Properties By OCCRP

Azerbaijan’s autocratic president, Ilham Aliyev, has been accused of dipping into the country’s oil wealth to enrich his family. Among their offshore assets are dozens of London properties worth about $700 million combined, OCCRP reported in 2022. Some of those properties are owned by Aliyev’s children.

OCCRP reported that the president’s eldest daughter, Leyla, owned a company that held a large London office building. Leyla’s other pursuits have included launching a culture magazine in Moscow, and serving as vice president of a charitable foundation.

At just 19 years old, her sister, Arzu, held shares in an offshore company with a Swiss bank account that acquired three apartments worth £5.1 million ($9.7 million) in the Knightsbridge district.

When he was 11, their younger brother, Heydar, became the “landlord” of a London Michelin-starred restaurant, an art gallery, and the head office of Conde Nast.

The villas linked to Leyla and Arzu are owned by companies ultimately owned by the Aliyev family. The villas linked to Heydar Aliyev were last purchased in 2009 and records show they are owned by Green Apple Investment FZE, the same company listed for the properties connected to Arif Pashayev. Reporters were not able to determine who is behind this company.