TV Dragon ‘forged evidence to hide £10m from ex-wife’
FAR away in the Australian jungle, former Dragons’ Den star Duncan Bannatyne is settling into life on I’m A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here!
Back at home, the backlash of his bitter divorce rumbles on – after it emerged he could face a police investigation for allegedly forging evidence to hide some of his fortune from his ex-wife.
It was claimed yesterday that the 66-year-old tried to undervalue his business by £10million in an attempt to reduce the settlement to Joanne McCue.
The Clydebank-born fitness club tycoon is also accused of setting up offshore companies in tax havens, paying for meals with company credit cards and then asking fellow diners to repay him in cash.
With a reported fortune of around £175million, Bannatyne is facing a lawsuit filed by former right-hand man Nigel Armstrong, who Bannatyne allegedly asked to lie for him during divorce proceedings. He is said
‘Credibility publicly exposed’
to have forged minutes for a board meeting of Bannatyne Fitness to make it seem Mr Armstrong was paid a severance package of £10million rather than £6million, making it appear the company was less valuable.
Bannatyne needed Mr Armstrong to back up his claims but he refused to lie, the Mail on Sunday reported.
As a result, the businessman’s lawyers had to write a letter to the lawyers representing Miss McCue, whom Bannatyne divorced in 2013, apologising.
Mr Armstrong has filed a civil case with the High Court in Manchester, seeking £10million on grounds of unfair credibility to be publicly exposed.’ dismissal. Mr Armstrong claims: ‘In or
He was sacked from Bannatyne’s about mid-2011, Mr Bannatyne company last year. made a casual comment in a conversation
Court documents reveal he is with [Armstrong] to making a series of claims about the effect that he had been hiding Bannatyne. They read: ‘Mr Bannatyne, personal money and assets.’ who had become accustomed Bannatyne is also accused of to calling the tune, was using company money to pay for simply unable to accept that personal expenses. [Armstrong] had refused to go The documents read: ‘On one along with his deception. occasion on his birthday, Mr
‘Someone had, perhaps for the Bannatyne referred to making first time, stood up to Mr Bannatyne arrangements to take money out and, moreover, had done of a bank account in Monte Carlo so in a way which caused his dishonesty which [Armstrong] understood and lack of integrity and to be a reference to a secret bank account abroad.’ It adds: ‘Mr Bannatyne paid for meals for groups of people and put the expense through the group’s accounts as a business expense but asked for those present to repay him in cash.’
A spokesman for Bannatyne told the Mail on Sunday: ‘This is a complex case which is being firmly contested and counteractioned. We fully expect to win when all the facts have been presented.’ His representatives could not be reached for further comment last night.
Meanwhile, Bannatyne is proving a controversial contestant on I’m A Celebrity. During Saturday night’s episode, he became embroiled in a class war with Lady Colin Campbell.
The aristocrat, 66, accused him of ‘having no concept’ of good breeding, after he complained her swearing showed a ‘lack of breeding’. ÷ Made in Chelsea star Spencer Matthews was forced to quit I’m a Celebrity after two days due to a battle with performanceenhancing steroids. Initially the show announced he had left on ‘health grounds’.