In a victory for open justice and the role of a free press, the Evening Standard can today reveal that a multi-millionaire Conservative Party donor who owns London’s Conran Shop and is the landlord of Soho Farmhouse in Oxfordshire is a key figure linked to a major money-laundering operation targeted by the National Crime Agency.
A court ruled that bank records showed Javad Marandi either owned or was connected to companies involved in a “criminal enterprise” shifting illicit funds around the world and into Britain. The judgment states Mr Marandi received $49m directly from the bank account of one of the companies used to “launder the proceeds of crime” as part of a so-called “Azerbaijan laundromat”.
