Senior business leaders could be called to give evidence when a high profile divorce dispute returns to court in October.
Property developer Scot Young has been involved in an increasingly bitter seven year-dispute with ex-wife Michelle over the whereabouts of his fortune. She claims he has hidden millions in off-shore tax havens while he insists he went bankrupt after the failure of a major property deal in Moscow.
Mr Young claims influential business contacts made a number of large payments to Mrs Young prior to October 2009 to help meet her expenses but she believes this money really came from her former husand. He also claims his contacts have provided him with extensive funding since his bankrupcty but he has not provided any evidence for this, The Independent claims.
The friends include Sir Philip Green, chairman of high street retail company the Arcadia Group, and Richard Caring, a billionaire businessman and restauranteur who owns both The Ivy and Annabel’s nightcub.
At a High Court hearing earlier this week, Mr Justice Moor said some of Mr Young’s benefactors could be called to give evidence at the hearing in October.
“Let’s not beat about the bush. Ms Young’s case is that his friends are a front for [Mr Young’s] wealth… I want to hear from these people.”
Young received a six month jail sentence for contempt of court in January after failing to reveal court-ordered financial details. In his judgement at the time, Mr Justice Moor criticised Young’s claims about his financial benefactors.
“It is absurd to say that these friends are prepared to support him financially to such a huge extent but that not one of them is prepared to produce any documentary evidence that the money came from them. There is no evidence he has tried to obtain such information from them.”
Scot Young was released from Pentonville Prison in April.
