Oil baron sues ex over £14m of art, statues and gems
A RUSSIAN oil baron is suing his ex-wife in Britain over jewellery and art worth millions of pounds – in a court war that was started by their daughter.
Nataliya Golubovich accused her estranged father, Alexey, of smuggling sculptures worth more than £4million out of her London mansion in a series of night-time raids.
The 26-year-old also alleged that he ‘physically assaulted’ her by kicking a metal artwork at her in an argument over the statues, which he vehemently denies.
The mother-of-two said the art collection, which includes several statues of Buddha as well as a range of rare pieces from the Far East, was a present from her mother, Olga Mirimskaya.
But Mr Golubovich, who is reportedly worth £308million, has claimed his ex-wife had no right to give them away as they were his at the time. He has now been granted the right to sue his exwife in England over ownership of the art and her £10million jewellery collection.
Mr Golubovich said that if he was not entitled to keep all the art, it should be bundled up with his ex-wife’s jewellery and split equally between the former couple. He claimed he had been the main collector of the Oriental art and was ‘the sole source of funds’ used to buy both the art and the jewellery collection.
Mr Golubovich has claimed a ‘deed of settlement’ was made with his ex-wife to split assets that were not in Russia at the time of their divorce. He said this handed her jewellery worth around £10million in return for the artwork.
Robert D’Cruz, representing Mr Golubovich, told the High Court in London that his client had paid for all the disputed items, adding: ‘At the time, Miss Mirimskaya had no business interests of her own or independent wealth.
‘All the family’s funds stemmed from the business interests of Mr Golubovich.
‘If the deed of settlement is found not to be valid, Mr Golubovich asks the court to divide the collection and the deed of settlement jewellery
‘No business interests’
as matrimonial.’ Mr Golubovich and Miss Mirimskaya were married for more than 25 years, had three children and could draw on a fortune worth hundreds of millions.
The business tycoon made his fortune in oil and now runs an asset management group, while his exwife owns a consumer goods conglomerate in Russia.
During their marriage, they are said to have acquired the collection of jewellery as well as a showcase of over 300 pieces of art, which was mostly kept at their £10million home on the banks of the Thames, in Hammersmith, west London.
However, the pair went through an acrimonious divorce in the Russian courts in 2012.
The battle over the art started in April when Miss Golubovich launched a court claim against her father, saying he had wrongfully made off with the pieces.
He is said to have claimed he was taking them to be restored, or borrowing them to show in a museum or private gallery.
But later, he allegedly brought empty suitcases to the house so he could remove the statues ‘in greater volume’.
Rejecting her father’s account, Miss Golubovich said the collection was mostly bought with her mother’s own money, and was then given to her in a legal deed that formally ‘gifted’ the collection.
Last week, Judge Stephen Lloyd granted permission for the separate dispute to be heard in the English courts. He said: ‘There is a serious issue to be tried and there is a good arguable case. It seems clear that in the circumstances England is the proper forum.’
The case will return to court at a later date.