AKIPRESS.COM - The daughters of Azerbaijan’s president agreed to buy a £60m London property using a secret offshore company, in a case potentially carrying “a significant risk of money laundering”, a tribunal has heard.

Leyla and Arzu Aliyeva sought to purchase two luxury Knightsbridge flats for £59.5m, including £3m to convert them into a single home. The deal in 2015 was intended to be the latest addition to a multi-million pound property portfolio in Britain acquired by president Ilham Aliyev’s family, The Guardian reported.

Leyla Aliyeva initiated the purchase at the same time as her divorce from Emin Agalarov, an Azerbaijani businessman and pop star. Aglarov’s father Aras, a Moscow-based property developer, hosted Donald Trump on his 2013 visit to Russia for the Miss Universe beauty pageant.

Details emerged in a disciplinary tribunal into the solicitor who carried out the transaction, Khalid Sharif. Sharif – a senior partner with the London firm Child & Child – admitted failing to carry out money-laundering checks and breaching his professional code.

The luxury flats due to be bought from a developer were “close” to Child & Child’s London office, which overlooks the garden of Buckingham Palace. After exchanging contracts, the Aliyev sisters started to pay the purchase price in instalments, transferring more than £10m. The deal “unravelled” in 2016 after their ownership was exposed.

The case illustrates the ease with which rich, politically-connected individuals from overseas can use anonymous company vehicles to buy prime London real estate – and highlights the dangers for high-end UK law firms and solicitors acting in these transactions.