(Bloomberg) — A U.K. court froze the ownership of three London residential properties worth 80 million pounds ($101 million) linked to a high-profile suspect, while investigators scrutinize the source of the funds used to buy the assets. A High Court judge last week granted the National Crime Agency, the U.K. equivalent to the FBI, so-called unexplained wealth orders on the properties in prime locations, the agency said Wednesday in a statement. The first was in February 2018, when a judge ordered that former International Bank of Azerbaijan head Jahangir Hajiyev and his wife explain how they afforded a pair of properties worth 22 million pounds. Investigators say Hajiyeva spent 16 million pounds ($20 million) at Harrods between 2006 and 2016, using 35 credit cards issued by a bank led by her husband. Harrods records disclosed at the High Court detail spending that includes 5.75 million pounds ($7.3 million) at jewelers Boucheron and Cartier, 1 million pounds ($1.27 million) in Harrods’ toy department and 30,000 pounds at chocolatier Godiva.

Source: National Post May 29, 2019 12:22 UTC