Nigel Farage’s journey to Davos hosted and paid for by household belief of billionaire

[ad_1] Nigel Farage’s journey to Davos this week was hosted and paid for by the $10bn household belief of an Iranian-born billionaire, the Guardian has discovered.

The chief of Reform UK has been touring Davos this week, giving speeches during which he pledged to tax banks and “battle the globalists”.

However in a shocking entry, he's listed on the programme for the World Financial Discussion board as a member of parliament and a consultant of HP Belief, which describes itself because the “household workplace of Sasan Ghandehari” with a portfolio worth in extra of $10bn (£7.4bn).

A consultant for the belief stated Farage had been invited to Davos by Ghandehari, a enterprise capitalist, as an honorary and unpaid adviser to his affect funding portfolio targeted on philanthropic actions, notably within the Center East.

He confirmed that the prices related to Farage’s registration for the World Financial Discussion board and his lodge lodging in Davos had been paid by Ghandehari.

Ghandehari, now a British citizen, is the son of the late Iranian-Kazakh billionaire Hourieh Peramaa, who as soon as owned one in every of London’s most costly £50m properties. A London-based artwork collector, he's the consultant of a agency suing Christie’s public sale home over the provenance of a Picasso portray beforehand owned by somebody convicted of a medicine offence.

Reform UK stated Farage didn't work for HP Belief and any declarations about who had paid for the journey can be registered in the end.

Farage’s Davos connection to HP Belief will not be Reform’s solely hyperlink to the Ghandehari household. Earlier this yr, it emerged {that a} small design agency referred to as Inside Structure Panorama had given £200,000 to Reform in two tranches, in accordance with Electoral Fee knowledge. The corporate has a low profile, however in planning paperwork from 2015 it was listed because the consultant for a property linked to the Ghandehari household.

Inside Structure Panorama confirmed to the Guardian on Friday that the Ghandehari household are its purchasers. A spokesperson stated its determination to donate £200,000 was made independently by the corporate’s administration, and never the Ghandehari household.

The spokesperson for Ghandehari additionally stated the household was a shopper of Inside Structure Panorama, however was not chargeable for the donations.

The Inside Structure Panorama spokesperson added: “We verify that the corporate has, in combination, roughly £15m in lively contracts, together with upkeep, refurbishment, and fit-out works, in relation to a number of properties throughout the UK.

“We additional verify that members of the Ghandehari household are purchasers of the corporate. We are able to additionally verify that every one members of the corporate’s administration, its decision-makers and its purchasers are British residents, and that the corporate conducts reliable enterprise actions inside the UK. Accordingly, any political donations made by the corporate are absolutely compliant with relevant electoral legislation.

“Individually, the corporate’s administration made a industrial and values-based determination to donate to Reform UK, reflecting the corporate’s view that Reform UK is looking for to enhance the sectors during which the corporate operates.”