Shams Al Sahra FZCO is a company registered in the Jebel Ali Free Zone in Dubai.[8] Leyla and Arzu Aliyeva were the company’s beneficial owners until 2018, when it was transferred to Tale and Nijat Heydarov, the sons of Azerbaijan’s Emergency Situations Minister Kamaladdin Heydarov.[8] In January 2021, Nijat Heydarov’s half share was transferred to Azerbaijani-Iranian businessman Manouchehr Ahadpour Khanghah.[8] In May 2023, Khanghah and his brother Behzad were directors of Shams Al Sahra, along with Tale Heydarov and Azerbaijani businessman Namaz Gasimov.[8]
Shams Al Sahra FZCO was a customer of Malta’s Pilatus Bank,[11] which was shuttered in 2018 over systemic failures to comply with anti-money laundering regulations.[587] At the time, British private banker Farnoush Farsiar and Australian accountant Robert John Baker were authorized signatories of Shams Al Sahra FZCO.[11]
In 2013, the company jointly owned Gilan Holding LLC, a major Azerbaijani conglomerate, with Sahra FZCO, a company owned by the Aliyeva sisters.[665]
Salam Advocates & Legal Consultants LLC, a Dubai-based law firm representing Shams Al Sahra, told The Sentry that Leyla and Arzu Aliyeva have never been beneficial owners of Shams Al Sahra FZCO.[1403] The Sentry replied that sources state otherwise and requested ownership documents to the contrary, but the law firm did not respond.[1404]
