Na’Ím Anís Paymán was first mentioned here in this post from November 2020; scroll down to the section, ‘Knighton Hotel’.

He was the new owner of that establishment in the Powys town of the same name. He’d picked up the property from the liquidators, following the collapse of the Paul and Rowena Williams property empire. (Covered in the ‘Weep for Wales’ series.)

In the belief that anyone had to be an improvement on the Gruesome Twosome, I welcomed young Na’Ím to Wales. But concluded with a warning: ‘If he takes a wrong path, then I’m sure I’ll be writing about him again’.

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NORTHOP HALL HOTEL

I’m writing about Paymán again because of the publicity generated by a more recent Welsh purchase; this time, Northop Hall Hotel, just south of the village of that name. The property itself situated between Chester Road and the A55 Expressway.

Last August this piece appeared saying that Paymán had bought the hotel, and ‘has reached out to local residents in the hope of making the hotel a “focal point of community life”.’

Yet last week we read that the plan now is to house ‘refugees’.

The purchase was not exactly straightforward, and the complicating factor may help explain the current planning application.

For in last year’s report we read: ‘As the hotel’s previous owners offered each room to individual investors on long-term leaseholds, Payman Investments will only own the building’s function rooms and land, not its rooms.’

So Na’Ím Anís Paymán bought a hotel . . . without the rooms that had made it a hotel!

Which explains what we read in last week’s report: ‘Payman Holdings 3 Ltd, based near Hull, wants to install two-storey modular accommodation for 250 people up to seven years at Northop Hall Country House Hotel. It has also applied for change of use consent for the hotel to house 150 refugees.

People have taken out leases on rooms at Northop Hall Hotel, from which they would make money by those rooms being rented out to short-stay guests. It’s a business model I’ve dealt with a few times on this blog.

Most colourfully, with Gavin Lee Woodhouse. Though the practice is not confined to hotels. As we saw last autumn with the Chisellers From Chislehurst selling or leasing rooms in care homes.

So what’s the plan now; is Paymán going to find guests for the leased rooms, or is he hoping the threat of ‘refugees’ lets him buy the leases at knockdown prices?

Whatever . . . there are two Land Registry titles covering the Northop Hall Hotel site. Here’s the first, which includes the hotel itself; here’s the second, relating to adjoining land.

And here are the complementary plans for those two titles.

You’ll note lots of numbers all over the hotel itself. These relate to the 150-year leases on individual rooms. All listed on the title document for CYM400243. Just scroll down.

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PLAS BELLIN, ETC

But, blow me down! if Na’Ím Anís Paymán wasn’t in the news again last Saturday, with another property in Flintshire. This time, Plas Bellin, north of Northop Hall.

The report in NorthWalesLive says that this property has been bought by Payman Holdings 11 Ltd.

Okay, so we know that young Na’Ím has at least two properties in Flintshire. Then there’s the Knighton Hotel in Powys, which I’m told is run more as a hostel than a hotel; self-service, often no service at all because there’s nothing to serve yourself with.

Sad, really. It’s a big place in a small town, and the way it’s being run doesn’t do Knighton any favours.

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THE BULGING PORTFOLIO

Despite the reference to Hull in the NorthWalesLive report linked to, Paymán Holdings 3 Ltd is in fact headquartered at 15 Sherbourne Close, Cambridge.

Where it must be very cosy with all the other Paymán companies at the same address. Here they are (ignore 17 and 18). These are / were all Paymán companies, with what look like two notable exceptions.

One is Yazdan Autohaus Ltd, s second-hand car dealership! The other, Yazdan Logistics Ltd, in the business of cargo handling and land freight. For both, the sole director is named as Pakistani Farhan Yazdan.

Though Linkedin tells us (here in pdf format.) his name is really Farhan Yazdanparast, and he is the Investment Manager at Paymán Group Ltd.

What a small world!

We’re now returning to Paymán Holdings 3 Ltd. You’ll see that the company was formed in November 2020, Na’Ím Anís Paymán is the sole director, and it’s controlled through Paymán Investments Ltd, of St Helier, Jersey.

I can’t tell you much about the Jersey company, other than that it was Incorporated December 1, 2020; here are the Articles of Association, from November 23, 2020; there was a £10,000 share issue December 22, 2021; and a change of address was notified October 5, 2022.

The new address at Kensington Chambers is in bustling downtown St Helier. (Though I hope the new owners have replaced the missing letters from the name.)

Despite Paymán Holdings 3 Ltd owning Northop Hall Hotel and Plas Bellin(?) it filed as a dormant company on June 30 last year, with its only declared asset being a single £1 share.

Even though Northop Hall Hotel cost £850,000, and Plas Bellin had previously been marketed at £1.2m.

In fairness, the most recent accounts are dated June 30, 2022, just before the purchase of Northop Hall Hotel, registered with the Land Registry on September 23, 2022.

Paymán Holdings 3 is just one of a host of Paymán companies, many more than we encountered at 15 Sherbourne Close. According to Companies House Na’Ím Anís Paymán has been involved with 34 companies since February 2015. And the only director at almost all of them.

But there are few if any charges referring to loans or mortgages taken out against the properties bought. For example, and as I’ve just mentioned, no loans for the two Flintshire properties.

Which leads me to conclude that Paymán is a wealthy young man. Either that, or someone else is putting up the money. If it’s the latter, then who might it be?

UPDATE 10.07.2024: Mr Paymán’s solicitor informs me that most of her client’s purchases were financed with loans which have been registered as charges since I wrote the article. This I can confirm.

Because in addition to the three properties we know of in Wales he’s also buying up property in England and Scotland. Here are a few I’ve found.

In England, there’s the Amethyst Hotel at Immingham, run by Paymán Club. This explains the reference to ‘Hull’, for Immingham is just across the Humber. Then there’s the Royal Hotel in Kettering.

Another property linked with Paymán is the Lovelady Shield Hotel in the Lake District.

Also, the Maycliffe Hotel in Torquay. (Scroll down for mention of Paymán.) Someone sent me what you see below.

In Scotland, there’s the Douglas Arms in Castle Douglas. Though the company involved here is Keezark Ltd, and Paymán himself is no longer a director. The sole director now (at the familiar Cambridge address) is 24-year-old Dr Sara Aikta Gandhi Forouhi Paymán. Wife? Sister?

Note also, as in Flintshire, the reference to ‘community involvement’: “And new owner Na’ím Anís Paymán confirmed he is keen to get the community involved.”

Keezark also files as a dormant company.

Moving further north, the Stromness Hotel on Orkney has stopped selling alcohol since it was bought by Paymán Investments. A move that will be explained in the concluding sub-section.

Of course, this means I shall now have to rearrange the cycling tour of the Northern Isles I’d planned for next January.

UPDATE 10.07.2024: Mr Paymán’s solicitor has clarified that although his hotels do not sell alcohol, those booking the venues for weddings or other private functions are welcome to bring and consume their own alcohol.

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Na’Ím Anís Paymán belongs to the Baha’i faith. “Who them?” you ask; and to be perfectly honest, I’m not really sure. All I know is that it’s an offshoot of Islam with origins in Iran. Read what they have to say about themselves.

And they don’t drink. Which is fine, I won’t force them into John Barleycorn’s embrace. But just as with the increasingly intolerant vegans, I’m getting more than a wee bit pissed off with zealots imposing their lifestyle choices on me.

I have never in my life forced a vegan to eat a rump steak, and so I will not accept a pallid, undernourished nutter equating my dietary choices with those of Hannibal Lecter.

That off my chest . . . I can’t help wondering if the Baha’i faith has wealthy, do-gooder members who believe they’re engaged in some noble humanitarian work by funding Paymán?

Is he buying these properties on behalf of the Baha’is?

Unfortunately, the Jersey Financial Services Commission doesn’t tell us who owns the 10,000 shares in parent company Paymán Investments Ltd. If it did, then we’d be closer to knowing who really owns the various Paymán properties.

We might also know where the profits go, for little or nothing is shown in the companies I’ve found.

UPDATE 10.07.2024: Mr Paymán’s solicitor wishes me to make clear that he has told her that he is the sole owner of Payman Investments Ltd and the purchase are not funded by any donor. No evidence was provided to me.

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THE ALBANIAN CONNECTIONS

Na’Ím Anís Paymán gives his nationality on Companies House documents as German, and I have no reason to doubt that he is a German / EU citizen. But his ancestral roots are in Iran. And he was brought up in Albania.

Here’s his Linkedin info taking us back as far as his Albanian schooldays. (Here in pdf format.) I don’t know a lot about Albania, but I do remember the name of its former psychopathic dictator, Enver Hoxha.

Some claim the country’s most notable export today is gangsters. In fact, Albanian gangsters are famed for their ruthlessness. We saw a recent example in Wales.

While you might not be aware of crime networks I’m sure you know that Albanians formed the largest single ethnic group found among the illegal immigrants crossing the English Channel in 2022. Up from an estimated 50 in 2020 to 12,301 in 2022.

Most of the properties I’ve mentioned here, from Torquay to Stromness are run by Paymán Club. A UK company, operating in the UK . . . so why does the Office Manager, Qazim Gega, live in Albania? Does he commute every day?

Here’s his rather sketchy Linkedin page. (Here in pdf format.)

Another Albanian linked with Paymán Club is Megi Ibrahimi. Her equally spare Linkedin page says she’s the Operations Manager. (Here in pdf format.) I believe she is also a member of the Baha’i faith.

UPDATE 10.07.2024: Mr Paymán’s solicitor also wishes me to make clear that her client has worked to try to prevent emigration of talent from Albania, and that he employs some remote staff in Albania.

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We must also deny the Left the chance to exploit the situation by misrepresenting the situation; the kind of thing we see below from Green MP Caroline “I’m so caring!” Lucas quoting sententious Leftist twaddle.

Confusing genuine refugees with young men looking for easy money and obliging women obviously serves the Left’s Open Borders / Disrupt Society agenda, but it does nothing for those women and children in boats we are urged to consider.

Yet by refusing to differentiate between the two the Left can’t really complain if critics of uncontrolled immigration also fail to make the distinction. (Maybe that’s what the Left wants.)

So let’s help genuine refugees, in the hope they’ll one day be able to return to their homes. But always refuse entry to the young men hoping to land a billet on Easy Street. We owe it to the former to ensure they are never confused with the latter.

And we have an obligation to the young men themselves. For after landing, too many of them will be drawn into criminal activity. We don’t want that, do we?

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© Royston Jones 2023