UK imposes travel ban on art dealer accused of financing Hezbollah

Nazem Ahmad abused the art market to fund the Lebanese militant group, the British government alleges

Nazem Ahmad has been banned from travelling to the UK. Photo: US Treasury Department

An art dealer and diamond smuggler accused of being a Hezbollah financier has been banned from travelling to the UK.

Nazem Ahmad, 60, is sanctioned by Britain and the US, and he has been banned along with Mustafa Ayash.

Mr Ayash is also under UK sanctions, after being suspected of providing financial support for Gaza Now, which Britain accuses of promoting the “Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad terrorist groups”.

The action against the pair is the first example of new travel ban powers under the Domestic Counter Terrorism Sanctions Regime, said the UK’s Treasury.

“The travel bans are a part of continued efforts to protect the integrity of the UK economy from terrorist financing threats,” said the department.

“They are used to target those who are suspected of being, or to have been, involved in terrorist activity in the UK but are not UK nationals.”

Mr Ahmad, a dual Belgian-Lebanese citizen, is accused of abusing the UK’s fine art market to run an international terrorist financing operation for Hezbollah.

The UK’s National Crime Agency this year highlighted the use of an art storage warehouse in London by Mr Ahmad.

Police swooped on the high-security depot near London's Heathrow Airport, taking away nearly two dozen works of art belonging to him, which they believe would probably have funded Hezbollah.

At the same time, at an auction house in central London they seized art that Mr Ahmad had hoped to sell.

The nearly two dozen works included paintings by Picasso and Andy Warhol and had a total value of almost £1 million ($1.32 million).

Mr Ahmad was first accused by the US Treasury in 2019 of laundering substantial amounts of money and being involved in the smuggling of “blood diamonds” for Hezbollah.

He was sanctioned and then in April last year, he was charged by the US along with eight associates, including his UK-based right-hand man Sundar Nagarajan, with offences relating to breaching sanctions regulations.

Mr Nagarajan was extradited to the US in December.

Among the charges Mr Ahmad is facing are defrauding the US and foreign governments, evading sanctions and money laundering.

It is alleged he and others used a complex web of businesses to obtain valuable artwork from US artists and galleries, while hiding his involvement in and benefit from those activities.

About $160 million was siphoned through the US financial system, according to a court in New York.

The UK government also sanctioned Mr Ahmad, saying he had an extensive art collection in Britain and conducted business with several UK-based artists, art galleries and auction houses.

The US authorities want to bring Mr Ahmad to trial and has offered a $10 million reward for information on his whereabouts, though they believe he is currently in Beirut.