John Simpson donated £200,000 to Reform last year
A Reform donor has been revealed to have links to a Dubai-based company that previously had business ties to a now sanctioned Iranian conglomerate.
According to a Financial Times report, John Richard Simpson is the registered manager and shareholder of Dubai-based Orico General Trading LLC.
Until 2016, Orico had links to Iranian company Omran Razavi International Co, which has close ties to the Islamic Republic’s government.
French legal documents released last month described Orico as a subsidiary of Omran Razavi International Co.
The Iranian company is majority-owned by Astan Quds Razavi religious foundation, a leading financial conglomerate with close ties to the Islamic Republic.
Between 2012 and 2013, Orico entered into agreements with Omran Razavi, including a €145 million deal connected to Iran’s state telecommunications company.
In 2021, the US Treasury Department placed AQR under sanctions, citing its control of “large swaths of the Iranian economy” and its links to then supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and senior government officials.
Orico denies being a subsidiary of any Iranian regime entity and says it is privately owned.
A source close to the company claims its links to AQR ended in 2016, when assets were allegedly seized amid a power shift involving Iran’s ruling elite.
Simpson is also publicly listed as the person with significant control of Interior Architecture Landscape Limited (IAL Ltd), which donated £200,000 to Reform last year.
IAL’s clients include Iranian billionaire Sasan Ghandehari and his family, who sponsored Farage’s pass to the World Economic Forum in Davos in January.
Olivia Barber is a reporter at Left Foot Forward
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