Nigel Farage’s trip to Davos this week was hosted and paid for by the $10bn family trust of an Iranian-born billionaire, the Guardian has learned.
The leader of Reform UK has been touring Davos this week, giving speeches in which he pledged to tax banks and “fight the globalists”.
But in a surprising entry, he is listed on the programme for the World Economic Forum as a member of parliament and a representative of HP Trust, which describes itself as the “family office of Sasan Ghandehari” with a portfolio value in excess of $10bn (£7.4bn).
A representative for the trust said Farage had been invited to Davos by Ghandehari, a venture capitalist, as an honorary and unpaid adviser to his impact investment portfolio focused on philanthropic activities, particularly in the Middle East.
He confirmed that the costs associated with Farage’s registration for the World Economic Forum and his hotel accommodation in Davos were paid by Ghandehari.
Ghandehari, now a British citizen, is the son of the late Iranian-Kazakh billionaire Hourieh Peramaa, who once owned one of London’s most expensive £50m properties. A London-based art collector, he is the representative of a firm suing Christie’s auction house over the provenance of a Picasso painting previously owned by someone convicted of a drugs offence.
Reform UK said Farage did not work for HP Trust and any declarations about who had paid for the trip would be registered in due course.
Farage’s Davos connection to HP Trust is not Reform’s only link to the Ghandehari family. Earlier this year, it emerged that a small design firm called Interior Architecture Landscape had given £200,000 to Reform in two tranches, according to Electoral Commission data. The company has a low profile, but in planning documents from 2015 it was listed as the representative for a property linked to the Ghandehari family.
Interior Architecture Landscape confirmed to the Guardian on Friday that the Ghandehari family are its clients. A spokesperson said its decision to donate £200,000 was made independently by the company’s management, and not the Ghandehari family.
The spokesperson for Ghandehari also said the family was a client of Interior Architecture Landscape, but was not responsible for the donations.
The Interior Architecture Landscape spokesperson added: “We confirm that the company has, in aggregate, approximately £15m in active contracts, including maintenance, refurbishment, and fit-out works, in relation to several properties across the United Kingdom.
“We further confirm that members of the Ghandehari family are clients of the company. We can also confirm that all members of the company’s management, its decision-makers and its clients are British citizens, and that the company conducts legitimate business activities within the United Kingdom. Accordingly, any political donations made by the company are fully compliant with applicable electoral law.
“Separately, the company’s management made a commercial and values-based decision to donate to Reform UK, reflecting the company’s view that Reform UK is seeking to improve the sectors in which the company operates.”
The company’s person of significant control is listed on Companies House as a John Richard Simpson.
