(This April 8 story corrects to show all three properties worth 80 million pounds and Aliyev connected to one property)

LONDON (Reuters) – London’s High Court removed anti-graft orders against the grandson of the former president of Kazakhstan on Wednesday, dealing a blow to powers that British crime fighters use to target dirty money.

The National Crime Agency (NCA) had sought Unexplained Wealth Orders (UWOs) against the companies which owned a London mansion in which Nurali Aliyev lived, as well as two other properties, to try to force them to explain where the money to buy the properties had come from.

However, On Wednesday, the High Court ruled in favour of Aliyev over the house connected to him and discharged the orders against the companies which owned the three properties.

“The court’s powerful judgment demonstrates the NCA obtained the orders on an inaccurate basis as part of a flawed investigation which was entirely without merit,” Aliyev, the grandson of former Kazakh president Nursultan Nazarbayev, said in statement.

“The NCA deliberately ignored the relevant information I voluntarily provided and pursued a groundless and vicious legal action, including making shocking slurs against me, my family and my country.”

The case involved only the second time that Britain has used UWOs since they were introduced in 2018 in an attempt to stem the billions of dollars of dirty money flowing through the country each year.

The NCA wanted Aliyev to explain the source of funds used to buy the mansion in north London where he lived with his wife and children which has an underground swimming pool, a cinema, saying it and two other properties were worth some 80 million pounds ($104 million).

It had argued the money used to buy the house and the two other properties was linked to Rakhat Aliyev – Nurali Aliyev’s father and the former president’s son-in-law – who was found hanged in an Austrian jail in 2015 after being charged with the murder of two bankers in 2007.

Lawyers for two offshore companies that own the properties said the case was “tissue paper thin” and that the funding had come from Aliyev’s mother, Dariga Nazarbayeva, who was economically independent.

A spokesman for Dariga Nazarbayeva said that Wednesday’s judgement “entirely vindicated” her.

“It is frustrating and disappointing that she has had to take this action to fight these draconian proceedings and clear her name,” the spokesman said.

The NCA said it would appeal against the ruling.

“Unexplained Wealth Orders are new legislation and we always expected there would be significant legal challenge over their use,” said Graeme Biggar, the NCA’s Director General of the National Economic Crime Centre.

“These hearings will establish the case law on which future judgments will be based, so it is vital that we get this right.”

Britain’s first UWOs were issued against a Knightsbridge house and a golf course belonging to Jahangir Hajiyeva, jailed in Azerbaijan for embezzlement from the state bank, and his wife, Zamira, who spent 16.3 million pounds in the London department store Harrods.

(Reporting by Michael Holden and Elizabeth Howcroft; editing by Stephen Addison and Jon Boyle)

UK crime agency loses case against ex-Kazakh president’s family

Judge overturns unexplained wealth orders that led to freezing of London properties

Britain’s National Crime Agency has lost a high court attempt to force the daughter and grandson of a former president of Kazakhstan to explain where they got the money to buy £80m of property in London.

Last year, the NCA froze three of the family’s properties, including a mansion on north London’s so-called Billionaire’s Row with an underground swimming pool and cinema, over claims they were acquired using proceeds from unlawful activity.

The agency used unexplained wealth orders (UWOs), a power introduced in 2018 known as “McMafia” laws after the BBC’s organised crime drama and book that inspired it, to freeze the assets until the owner explains the source of their wealth. This case is only the second time such an order has been used in Britain.

On Wednesday, a high court judge granted an application to discharge the unexplained wealth orders.

The NCA said it would appeal against the decision.

One of the properties, a mansion in Hampstead, is occupied by Nurali Aliyev, the grandson of former Kazakh president Nursultan Nazarbayev, and his wife and children.

The two other properties frozen are an apartment in Chelsea, south-west London, which the campaign group Transparency International says is worth £31m, and a house in Highgate, north London.

The NCA has barred any attempt to sell the properties and argues that the wealth used to buy them was linked to Rakhat Aliyev – Nurali Aliyev’s father and the former president’s son-in-law – who was found hanged in an Austrian jail in 2015 after being charged with the murder of two bankers in 2007.

“UWOs are new legislation and we always expected there would be significant legal challenge over their use,” said Graeme Biggar, the NCA’s director general of the National Economic Crime Centre.

“We disagree with this decision to discharge the UWOs and will be filing an appeal. We have been very clear that we will use all the legislation at our disposal to pursue suspected illicit finance and we will continue to do so.”

The ultimate beneficial owners of the three properties — Rakhat Aliyev’s ex-wife, Dariga Nazarbayeva, the chair of the senate in Kazakhstan and daughter of the former Kazakh president Nursultan Nazarbayev, and her son, Nurali Aliyev — applied to the high court to discharge the UWOs.

Giving judgment remotely on Wednesday, Mrs Justice Lang overturned all three UWOs, ruling that “the NCA’s assumption” that Rakhat Aliyev was the source of the funds to purchase the three properties was unreliable.

The judge said there was “cogent evidence” that Nazarbayeva and Nurali Aliyev had founded the companies that owned the properties and provided the funds to purchase them.

“The court’s powerful judgment demonstrates the NCA obtained the orders on an inaccurate basis as part of a flawed investigation which was entirely without merit,” said Nurali Aliyev.

Britain’s first UWOs were issued against assets belonging to Jahangir Hajiyev, who was in prison in Azerbaijan for embezzlement from the state bank, and his wife, Zamira, who spent £16.3m in the London department store Harrods. She lost her appeal against the order this year.

Britain’s first UWOs were issued against assets belonging to Jahangir Hajiyev, who was in prison in Azerbaijan for embezzlement from the state bank, and his wife, Zamira, who spent £16.3m in the London department store Harrods. She lost her appeal against the order this year.

Orritain’s first UWOs were issued against assets belonging to Jahangir Hajiyev, who was in prison in Azerbaijan for embezzlement from the state bank, and his wife, Zamira, who spent £16.3m in the London department store Harrods. She lost her appeal against the order this year.