They made £15m from South York
THE Duke of York stood accused of cashing in on his royal links in 2007 after he sold his former marital home, Sunninghill Park in Berkshire, to a controversial businessman from the former Soviet republic of Kazakhstan for £15million in 2007.
Energy tycoon Timur Kulibayev paid £ million over the asking price – even though the house, dubbed South York, had languished on the market for more than five years.
More puzzlingly, the property has since been left empty. Andrew, who has always denied any impropriety, is a close friend of Kulibayev’s father-in-law, Kazakhstan president Nursultan Nazarbayev, who has been mired in accusations of corruption.
The prince has met Nazarbayev through his former role as a global trade ambassador, but has also visited Kazakhstan privately and even joined the president on goose hunting expeditions. One of Andrew’s closest friends, Kazakh businesswoman Goga Ashkenazi, had a baby by married Kulibayev, and has even previously suggested she was instrumental in helping to seal the deal for Sunninghill.
There have also been suggestions that Andrew may have benefited from a complicated legal arrangement to ensure he was not forced to pay 40 per cent capital gains tax on the sale of what had been a wedding gift. Inquiries subsequently found that the 125-year lease was in the Queen’s name.