Britain asks for Saudi tycoon to lose immunity
St Lucia receives Foreign Office request over billionaire accused of hiding property fortune
BRITAIN has intervened in the battle to strip a Saudi billionaire of his diplomatic immunity following claims that he was using his position to protect his fortune from his ex-wife.
Walid Juffali, 60, has been St Lucia’s envoy to the International Maritime Organisation for the past 20 months, despite spending little time on the Caribbean island and having no obvious experience of maritime affairs. There is no record of him attending a single meeting of the London-based IMO since his appointment.
But his position granted him diplomatic immunity, which meant that he could leave Christina Estrada, 53, who has a 13-year-old daughter with the oil tycoon, without any financial agreement. The pair married in 2001 but Ms Estrada – a long-time friend of Prince Andrew – launched court proceedings for a share of her ex-husband’s £4billion fortune after discovering in 2012 that he had secretly married a 24-yearold television presenter.
At stake are at least three British properties, including a seven-bedroom, £60million converted church with gold-leaf ceilings in Knightsbridge, a £15million mansion in Egham, Surrey, and a coastal property near Dartmouth, Devon, which he bought for £3.25 million in 2007.
Now the Foreign Office has intervened, writing to ask St Lucia to waive Mr Juffali’s diplomatic immunity for the purpose of the legal proceedings.
The appointment generated controversy on the Caribbean island and in the UK. It is not forbidden for a country to appoint foreign nationals as their diplomats, but the practice is unusual. The government of St Lucia has not replied to questions from The Telegraph , which first raised the situation last month, explaining that it “does not wish to make any official comments as it is not practice to respond to questions on foreign service appointments”.
Andrew Rosindell, a Conservative MP and member of the all-party parliamentary group on the British Caribbean, said the appointment to the London-based IMO – a position usually held by St Lucia’s high commissioner – was “highly irregular”.
“Diplomatic immunity is a huge privilege and should only be exercised in the most demanding and relevant instances,” he said. “To use it for personal benefit risks making a mockery of diplomatic privileges.”
St Lucia opened a new honorary consulate in Saudi Arabia on Nov 1. The head of the island’s diplomatic mission in Jeddah is Mr Juffali’s daughter, Halla. An earlier statement said the new consulate was established at “no cost to the government of St Lucia”.
Mr Juffali declined to say whether he had covered any of the cost.
St Lucia initially defended the appointment of Mr Juffali and on Nov 11 publicly backed the tycoon.
“The appointment of Dr Juffali is consistent with the efforts of the Government to appoint trade and investment envoys to assist in the promotion of St Lucia and to attract investment,” an official statement said.
“In the view of the government, this is a private matter and to waive Dr Juffali’s immunity for the purposes of resolving property disputes arising out of divorce proceedings will create a precedent that could compromise current and future diplomatic personnel in the United Kingdom and elsewhere.”
Kenny Anthony, the prime minister, said at the end of November that Mr Juffali “fell in love with St Lucia” and was planning to invest in the island, establishing a diabetes research facility – the first of its kind in the Caribbean.
But pressure on the government of St Lucia has been mounting.
Allen Chastanet, the opposition leader, denounced Mr Juffali’s appointment as “odd, awkward and immoral”. In previous years, St Lucia’s High Commissioner in London would perform the task of representing the country at the IMO.
“One would have thought if, in fact, you are going to change that policy, it would have been for a person with tremendous amount of experience in maritime affairs to the benefit of St Lucia,” said Mr Chastanet.
“But here we are seeing that Mr Juffali has no experience in maritime affairs.”
‘Diplomatic immunity is a huge privilege... To use it for personal benefit risks making a mockery of diplomatic privileges