Princess has five weeks to pay £1.83m in family trust row
ITALIAN heiress Princess Camilla de Bourbon is facing a desperate fight to clear her name after being ordered to pay £1.83million to the Jersey court within weeks.
The daughter of industrialist Camillo Crociani, she was fined £2million for contempt of court in December as part of a complex inheritance dispute with French bank BNP Paribas.
Last week, she lost her appeal to overturn the fine. Her proposal to pay it in 60 monthly instalments over five years was also rejected.
She has so far paid five instalments totalling £166,666.65 and must now pay the balance by July 15 or face the threat of jail. ‘If payment of the full amount due has not been made by the end of that day, the order for imprisonment in default of payment will take effect,’ legal documents say.
Princess Camilla said last night the fine was ‘unjust’. She is making an appeal to the Privy Council and considering an application to the European Court of Human Rights.
The Jersey court had asked Princess Camilla to help track down valuable assets owned by her mother, former film actress Edoarda Crociani, to help rebuild the family’s €250million (£214million) trust fund.
Princess Camilla said she does not know the location of the assets, which include jewellery, sculptures and a £46million painting by Paul Gauguin. But the court ruled she had not fully disclosed her knowledge of her mother’s assets, and she had been involved in moving paintings from Singapore to Zurich.
Princess Camilla said: ‘I have only ever spoken the truth throughout these proceedings. I am determined that justice will be done.’