The ruler of Dubai, Mohammed ben Rached al-Maktoum, was ordered on Tuesday by the British justice to pay more than 640 million euros to his ex-wife and their children, which is considered as the biggest compensation in divorce case granted by an English court. The 72-year-old leader, head of government of the United Arab Emirates, will have to pay 251.5 million pounds (around 300 million euros) to his sixth wife, Princess Haya of Jordan, 47.
He will also have to make payments for their children Al Jalila, 14, and Zayed, nine, totaling 290 million pounds (over 340 million euros) to cover alimony and costs related to their security, according to a judgment of the family court published Tuesday.
“Given their status and the general threats of terrorism and kidnapping they face in such circumstances, they are particularly vulnerable and need enhanced security to ensure their safety in this country,” said the judge. Moor in making his decision.
Harassment and intimidation
He added that “the main threat they face comes from [souverain] itself, and not from outside sources ”. The High Court ruled in October that Mohammed ben Rached al-Maktoum had authorized the hacking of the phone of his wife Princess Haya of Jordan and those of his British lawyers. It had not been proven that the hacking was linked to the legal battle between him in the United Kingdom and his wife to obtain the return to Dubai of their two children, but a “very large” volume of 265 megabytes of data had was taken from Princess Haya’s phone (24 hours of voice recording or 500 photographs).
The judge had stressed that the sovereign had “harassed and intimidated the mother before his departure for England and since”, and that he was “ready to tolerate that those who act on his behalf do it illegally in the United Kingdom. . “
The financial compensation measures granted on Tuesday are among the largest ever granted in the context of a divorce settlement in English courts since the case of the ex-wife of Russian billionaire Farkhad Akhmedov, Tatiana Akhmedova. At the end of 2016, justice had granted Ms. Akhmedova 41% of the fortune of her ex-husband, Farkhad Akhmedov, representing 453 million pounds, or 531 million euros at the current rate.