One of those given a "golden visa" and allowed to live in the UK with virtually no checks on the source of her fortune was jobless mum-of-three Zamira Hajiyeva, dubbed "Mrs McMafia".
She was handed a Tier 1 investor visa in 2010 after her husband Jahangir, 57, gave her a “gift” of £1 million to invest in UK government bonds.
While living in the country, Mrs Hajiyeva spent £16million of alleged stolen cash at Harrods.
She allegedly used fraudulent funds to also buy an £11.5million home in West London and a golf and country club in Ascot for £10.5million.
A court was told the 55-year-old was spending £1.6million a year at Harrods from 2006 to 2016 including £121,000 on Boucheron jewellery on one day in December 2009.
“Mrs McMafia” was one of just 3,000 super-rich people who were fast-tracked into Britain between 2008 and 2015 by obtaining a Tier 1 visa.
Now the Sun Online can reveal the Home Office has no idea whether those thousands of mystery foreigners are still living in the UK or not.
Mrs Hajiyeva was granted a Tier 1 investor visa when her hubby provided her £1 million to invest in the country.
He is currently serving 15 years in jail for stealing more than £100million in his role as chairman of Azerbaijan’s state bank.
Concerns have been raised the Tier 1 investor visas were open to abuse and allowed corrupt individuals and illicit funds into the country.
In a “blind faith” period between 2008 and 2015, around 3,000 super-wealthy people were provided with British residency in exchange for a £2m investment [it had been £1m when “Mrs McMafia” applied].
Applicants from countries like Russia and China didn’t have to prove they had a clean overseas criminal record and faced hardly any checks on the source of their wealth.
Incredibly, the Home Office has no idea how many are still here.
When asked by the Sun Online were living here, the Home Office replied saying it didn’t know.
A spokesman said: “The Home Office does not hold the information requested.
“Information from the Home Office administrative systems on the numbers of entry clearance visas granted does not indicate either whether individuals have travelled to the UK or whether they are currently resident.”
“Mrs McMafia” – one those to benefit from a Tier 1 investor visa – has lived in Knightsbridge for more than a decade during which time she has splurged more than £16 million in the Harrods department store.
Her five-bedroom house is now worth £15 million and she also bought the Mill Ride golf and country club in Ascot for £10.5 million.
Her husband earned £54,000 a year but has an estimated £55million fortune – which the family claim came from shrewd business deals.
Mr Hajiyeva was sentenced to 15 years in jail in 2016 for embezzling more than £100million.
Her lavish lifestyle is now the subject of an Unexplained Wealth Order – a new power that allows the National Crime Agency to force foreigners to reveal the source of their wealth.
She denies any wrongdoing and is appealing against the order.
“Mrs McMafia” was one of just thousands who entered the UK on a gold-plated visa.
Last year it was reported Madiyar Ablyazov, now 26, obtained a Tier 1 visa in 2009.
His dad, Mukhtar, is accused of embezzling billions from a Kazakh bank.
Campaigners said those people – mainly Chinese and Russians – brought with them £3.15billion “of questionable legitimacy”.
They said it was “absolutely shocking” and “astounding” the Home Office didn’t know whether they were still living in the UK or not.
Labour MP Chris Bryant told the Sun Online: “It is truly astounding that the Home Office has no idea of these people's whereabouts.
“We've given dodgy oligarchs free rein to waltz in and out of our country without any concern for the integrity of our financial system or the security of the nation.”
Duncan Hames, Director of Policy at Transparency International UK, told the Sun Online: “It’s scandalous that between 2008 and 2015 around 3,000 individuals were granted Tier 1 investor visas with weak checks on the source of their investments.
“We think it is highly likely that corrupt individuals were able to gain residency to the UK and launder dirty money, many of whom came from high risk states, such as China and Russia.
“Given how open the Tier 1 investor scheme has been to abuse by the corrupt, it is absolutely shocking that the Government doesn’t know if these individuals are still here.
“Whilst it’s positive that the checks have since become tighter, the Government needs to get a grip on who those 3,000 are, where they are and most importantly where their money came from.”
He added: “We are delighted that this first case is progressing in court, underlining the effectiveness of Unexplained Wealth Orders in targeting suspicious wealth. UWOs should now be used more widely to pursue more of the £4.4 billion worth of suspicious wealth we have identified across the UK.”
Earlier this year the former Home Secretary Amber Rudd ordered a review of the Tier 1 investor scheme as part of a government pledge to crackdown on illicit money flowing into the country.
This followed the attempted murder of former Russian double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia on UK soil.
Despite that, applications for a Tier 1 visa have actually increased by 46 per cent in a year.
More than 400 very wealthy overseas investors applied for Tier 1 investor visas in the year to March 31, a 46% increase on the number of applicants in the previous 12 months.
A Home Office spokesman told the Sun Online: “In 2014 and 2015 we took action to ensure Tier 1 investors make a bigger economic contribution to the UK, while strengthening our powers to refuse applications where there are reasonable grounds to believe funds have been obtained unlawfully.
“As the Prime Minister and former Home Secretary made clear, we are taking another look at how the route operates and are undertaking further checks on investors who came to the UK through this route before the reforms were introduced.”
TV link to law
They are dubbed McMafia laws as their launch coincided with the BBC drama McMafia — about gangsters with Russian links such as Alex Godman hiding cash in London.
Authorities are able to freeze and recover property if individuals can’t explain how they acquired assets worth more than £50,000.
The National Crime Agency, HMRC, the Financial Conduct Authority, Serious Fraud Office, and Crown Prosecution Service can all apply for UWOs.
They can also be applied to politicians outside the European Economic Area entrusted with a prominent public position.
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