Properties / Homes

11-year-old spends $44 million in Dubai

In just two weeks early last year, an 11-year-old boy from Azerbaijan became the owner of nine waterfront mansions in Dubai’s Palm Jumeirah. His name is Heydar Aliyev. That also happens to be the name of the son of Azerbaijan’s president, Ilham Aliyev. Furthermore, Dubai records show the purchaser’s date of birth to be the […]

Mar 07, 2010 | By Anakin

In just two weeks early last year, an 11-year-old boy from Azerbaijan became the owner of nine waterfront mansions in Dubai’s Palm Jumeirah.

His name is Heydar Aliyev. That also happens to be the name of the son of Azerbaijan’s president, Ilham Aliyev.

Furthermore, Dubai records show the purchaser’s date of birth to be the same as that of the president’s son.

The Washington Post newspaper reported that they were bought in a two-week shopping spree last year for about $44 million – 10,000 times the average annual salary in Azerbaijan.

Two more Aliyevs – with the same names as the president’s daughters – also have popped up in more land deals.

In all, Aliyev’s children, or at least some people with similar names, have amassed $75 million worth of real estate in Dubai.

The President’s official salary in Azerbaijan is about $228,000 a year, not enough to buy even the smallest property in the luxury zone of Dubai.

Azerbaijan, a former Soviet republic blessed with plentiful oil and gas reserves yet blighted by widespread poverty outside its glitzy capital, has long had a reputation for corruption.


 
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