Libyan gun smuggler was Prince’s link to ‘fraudster’

Mr Turk is alleged to have facilitated payments to the Duke and his family totalling £1.375million

PRINCE ANDREW was introduced to an alleged fraudster who paid him more than £1million by a convicted Libyan gun smuggler, The Sunday Telegraph can disclose.

The Duke of York was introduced to Selman Turk by Tarek Kaituni in the early summer of 2019. The pair struck up a friendship and the Duke attended dinners at Mr Turk’s London home.

Kaituni, who has boasted of his influence over the Duke, had earlier brokered meetings between the Duke and the late dictator Colonel Gaddafi and attended the wedding of Princess Eugenie at Windsor Castle in 2018.

Since their introduction, Mr Turk is alleged to have facilitated payments to the Duke totalling £1.1million, to his exwife Sarah Ferguson of £250,000 and to Princess Eugenie of £25,000.

It is alleged that Mr Turk stole the money from Nebahat Evyap Isbilen, a 77-year-old Turkish millionairess, who had trusted him to help her move more than $87million out of her homeland as she fled political persecution.

It is understood that the Duke was introduced to Mr Turk by Kaituni when they attended a birthday celebration at Windsor Castle some time in May or June 2019.

Mr Turk had been introduced to Kaituni by mutual friends a few months earlier, sources said.

Mr Turk and Kaituni held meetings with Prince Andrew in London on at least two occasions, including at a dinner with potential investors held for the Duke at Mr Turk’s apartment in South Kensington on Dec 5, 2019.

Mr Turk shared images with friends of him and Kaituni inside what is believed to be Frogmore House, the royal residence in Windsor Great Park, during a visit in February 2020.

The Duke of York became involved with Kaituni, who has American citizenship, in 2005.

The same year, Kaituni was convicted of attempting to smuggle a submachine gun from Holland to France.

The Libyan gave Beatrice an £18,000 gold and diamond necklace after he was invited by Prince Andrew to her 21st birthday party in Spain in August 2009, months before the Duke allegedly lobbied a British company on his

‘I think it’s a gift for the wedding. What she and her family decided to do with it is really to do with them’

behalf. The only time the Duke and Mr Turk have been pictured in public together is at the Pitch@Palace event in November 2019 when Mr Turk was awarded a People’s Choice award for his “digital bank” Heyman AI.

Days later, one payment of £750,000 was made directly from Mrs Isbilen to the Duke, which she believed was a “gift” she had to pay for help with her passport. It is understood that Mrs Isbilen was also told by Mr Turk that the Duke would be able to help with the case of her husband, a politician who is imprisoned in Turkey.

Mr Turk and the Duke’s private office later told her bankers that the money was for a wedding gift for Princess Beatrice. A transcript of phone calls obtained by The Telegraph shows Mr Turk telling an official from Mrs Isbilen’s private bank Hampden & Co on November 14, 2019, that the £750,000 payment was for Beatrice’s wedding.

In answer to a question from Stephen Buckland, a banker, as to why the sum was so large, Mr Turk said: “Wedding – so basically wedding – so for the cost of the wedding” adding late in the conversation: “Wedding gift, so basically it’s a gift to the bride.”

In a separate call on the same day,

Mr Buckland asked Prince Andrew’s then legal adviser Amanda Thirsk to confirm whether the payment, which he described as of an “unusual nature”, was a gift for the cost of the wedding or a gift to Princess Beatrice.

Ms Thirsk replied: “I mean, I’m not sure it makes much difference, does it?

“I think it’s a gift for the wedding. What she and her family decide to do with it is really to do with them, isn’t it?”

Mrs Isbilen, who attended the Pitch@ Palace event has, in papers filed as part of the legal proceedings, suggested the transfer could be connected to the award Mr Turk won that evening.

The Duke was photographed with Mr Turk at the glitzy awards night at St James’s Palace in November 2019. A former business associate of Mr Turk told this newspaper that when they heard of the timing of the payment, they became suspicious about the award.

The former business partner said that Mr Turk had told Mrs Isbilen that the money paid to the Duke was for his help in getting her husband Ilhan, 76, out of jail in Turkey, where he remains as a political prisoner following his alleged role in the failed coup against president Erdogan in 2016

A spokesman for the Duke of York said: “We will not be commenting on an ongoing legal matter.” Mr Turk did not respond to requests for comment.