Prince Andrew may face court over claims his £15m mansion was bought by billionaire to launder millions
PRINCE Andrew faces being dragged into another court case over allegations his mansion was bought by a billionaire to launder millions in dirty cash.
The Duke of York sold the luxury property for £15million in 2007 to Kazakh tycoon Timur Kulibayev — in a deal shrouded in controversy.
A disputed report by private investigators has now allegedly found reasonable grounds to suspect the Berkshire estate was purchased to launder embezzled money from the sale of Kazakh state-owned assets.
But an associate of Mr Kulibayev, billionaire Arvind Tiku, has filed a High Court writ, claiming the report breached his data protection rights.
His lawyers say the report is false, as law enforcement agencies conducted a three-year probe into the sale of Sunninghill Park, with no further action taken.
It comes as Andrew, 61, prepares to defend himself in the looming civil sex assault case brought by Virginia Giuffre.
He denies all allegations.
Yesterday legal sources said it was possible Andrew could be called as a witness in the property case.
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The writ says London investigators S-RM Intelligence were hired in 2015 to look into Indian-born Mr Tiku, 51.
Its contested report said he had been “engaged in transactions to embezzle several hundred million dollars from the sale of Kazakh state-owned assets”.
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That was then laundered “through Europe-based bank accounts and property purchases, including Sunninghill Park”.
Mr Tiku is also accused of helping Mr Kulibayev launder around £450million in other enterprises.
Mr Tiku’s lawyers say the allegations had all been investigated by Swiss and Kazakh law enforcement, and no charges were brought.
They also accuse the cyber security firm of wrongfully processing his personal data.
His lawyers say he was never a “trusted representative" of Mr Kulibayev, has never held assets for him, did not embezzle funds and did not launder cash by helping buy Sunninghill Park.
Mr Tiku claims the report has damaged his personal dignity, autonomy and integrity, and made him anxious and distressed.
Mr Tiku, reported to have a net worth of £1.63billion, is demanding damages of £50,000.
He also wants the personal data about him erased, and is calling for the security firm to respond fully to his request for all information about him by February 19.
The sudden sale of Sunninghill Park, dubbed Southyork in a nod to JR Ewing’s vulgar mansion in 1980s soap Dallas, has dogged Prince Andrew for years.
At the time, Buckingham Palace denied he had played any part in the sale.
But leaked emails in 2016 show that he tried to persuade the Queen’s bank Coutts to take on Mr Kulibayev as a client.
S-RM declined to comment.
Lawyers for Mr Kulibayev did not respond to requests for comment. He has previously denied any wrongdoing and it is understood that he insists the claims in the report are 'false'.
Update: Mr Tiku’s data protection claim against S-RM has since been settled.
The company has also agreed to delete it’s report into Mr Tiku’s affairs.
Lawyers for Mr Tiku said: “In the light of information and documentation that has now been provided by Mr Tiku to S-RM, S-RM has agreed to delete the relevant reports and has informed the clients who received such reports accordingly.
“In doing so, S-RM took account of the fact that the Swiss and Kazakh authorities investigated the business dealings of Mr Tiku, and that such investigations were closed in 2013 with no charges brought and no finding of any wrongdoing.
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“On this basis, S-RM accepts that the allegations investigated by the authorities are false.”
S-RM has agreed to delete additional reports which related to Mr Kulibayev and referred to allegations about him.
