Zakhav Nadeem (Nadhim Zahawi)

Zakhav Nadeem (Nadhim Zahawi)

Biography

2021: Creating a real estate portfolio worth more than £100m

In early July 2021, information appeared that the British minister Nadim Zahavi, who is responsible for vaccinating the population, his wife and their affiliated companies created a real estate portfolio worth more than £100 million.

More than half of the facilities, including a country house with stables, a London townhouse for £20 million, houses on central streets and an industrial complex, were purchased when Nadim Zahavi served as government minister.

7 Objects purchased for more than £10 million do not have a mortgage, and other 2 were partially financed by loans of £10 million from his wife Zahavi Lana.

On the day he became minister in 2018, he resigned as director of the investment and consulting company Zahawi & Zahawi Limited and transferred his 50% stake to his wife.

One of Zahawi's firms purchased the £3.5 million Chunnel industrial complex in Ashford, Kent, near the Eurotunnel railway station. It was bought without a mortgage a few days before the government concluded a trade deal with the EU in December 2020. 54-year-old Nadim Zahavi played a leading role in preparing business for Brexit.

Sir Alastair Graham, former chairman of the Committee on Standards in Public Life, said:

In my opinion, this is far from meeting the standards of transparency that we expect from ministers. After all, this is a potential conflict of interest, and it should be fully stated.

While Mr. Zahawi was directly involved in Brexit preparations, Mrs. Zahawi bought an industrial complex near the Channel Tunnel. Is it possible that they did not discuss this issue.

Mr. Zahawi must explain how he handled this potential conflict of interest.

The Minister's Code says that ministers should carefully avoid any danger of a real or perceived conflict of interest between their position as minister and private financial interests.

Zahavi personally owns 5 residential properties worth at least £17 million - 3 in London, 1 in Warwickshire and 1 in Dubai.

Documents show that their house in a constituency near Warwick, a country house and a stable bought for £875 thousand in 2011, were purchased with a loan from the offshore company Berkford Investments.

Most of them were acquired by Zahawi & Zahawi Limited, which Mr. Zahawi created with his wife 5 weeks after becoming a member of parliament in 2010.

Since Mr. Zahawi was appointed Minister for Children in 2018, Mrs. Zahawi has established 2 more companies and continued to buy real estate.^[1]

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