Divorce battle: Superyacht’s fate in hands of DIFC Courts
LAWYERS SQUARE OFF IN APPEAL HEARING SEEKING LUNA’S RELEASE FROM DUBAI PORT
Amega luxury yacht mired in a bitter divorce battle between a Russian billionaire and his ex-wife will remain locked down in Dubai port for the time being despite arguments by a team of lawyers at an appeal hearing to secure its release at Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) Courts yesterday.
The fate of $540-million superyacht Luna now lies with a panel of three justices presided over by Sir David Steel, Deputy Chief Justice, DIFC Courts, who wrestled in the hearing with a vexing set of legal quandaries, chiefly, rightful ownership and legal jurisdiction leading up to the 115-metre superyacht’s temporary seizure in February.
A ruling was not immediately available from Deputy Chief Justice Steel, Justice Sir Richard Field, and Justice Judith Prakash after a day’s evidence heard inside the DIFC Courts Arbitration Centre courtroom.
Luna remains embroiled in an ongoing legal fight between Russian oil and gas tycoon Farkhad Akhmedov and his ex-wife Tatiana Akhmedova whose agents successfully won a freeze order in February to temporarily hold the yacht at Port Rashid in Dubai.
The temporary detention of the vessel stems from a December 2016 order when Tatiana Akhmedova was awarded a $641-million divorce settlement by the British courts against her ex-husband, based on which, DIFC Courts issued the temporary freezing order to help her recoup the award, the highest divorce settlement in the UK’s legal history.
On April 10, however, the DIFC Courts granted permission to Straight Establishment — legal owners of the yacht — to seek appeal of the original ‘freezing’ order.
Twist in case
Yesterday, Straight Establishment’s lawyer Michael Black of Al Tamimi & Company argued that the freeze order should be set aside given that the client was never named in the British High Court divorce settlement.
Straight Establishment is a separate legal entity, he submitted, and is now the rightful owner of Luna, thereby nixing not only any enforcement claims against the yacht’s seizure but also negating DIFC Courts jurisdiction necessary to freeze the asset.
Justice Steel asked Straight Establishment’s lawyer Black who was paying the legal bill to represent the entity at the hearing but Black declined to elaborate.
Tatiana’s lawyer Vernon Flynn countered that Straight Establishment is nothing more than a shell company still under the control of Akhmedov and echoed the London High Court ruling last month that awarded ownership of the yacht to Tatiana and ruled that her husband was evading enforcement by creating a separate entity.
Flynn argued that the Russian billionaire still effectively controls the yacht and that the arrest of the boat was done “with a view to enforce a recognised English judgement … the second defendant has always been the first defendant’s alter ego, cipher….”
Flynn asserted that “Straight is Mr Akhmedov’s nominee”.