Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor summoned to give evidence in £40m High Court fraud trial, Digi Mart USA News: Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor has been served with a summons to give evidence in a £40m High Court trial against a Turkish businessman, with the former duke likely required to divulge significant details of his finances.
Mountbatten-Windsor is caught up in a lawsuit brought by Nebahat İşbilen, a Turkish national, who is suing her former adviser Selman Turk. She claims Turk misled her over a £750,000 payment made to Mountbatten-Windsor in 2019, which was later paid back, as well as the transfer of her wider wealth.
Turk denies dishonesty and last week made a late bid to be allowed to call Mountbatten-Windsor to give evidence at the trial. The request was subsequently approved by Justice Adam Johnson.
The BBC reported that the former prince, who was stripped of his titles last year, had been served with the summons. It is understood that Mountbatten-Windsor has the legal right to challenge the request.
Ahead of the civil trial, which is expected to begin later this month, The i Paper examines three things the public could learn from the former prince’s evidence.
Mountbatten-Windsor had known Turk for at least six months before receiving the disputed payments, the Sunday Telegraph reported in 2022. He was introduced to Turk in the summer of 2019 at Windsor Castle, where they held subsequent meetings, and he presented an award to Turk at his Pitch@Palace entrepreneurs event in November 2019.
Nine days after that event, Mountbatten-Windsor received £750,000 from İşbilen’s account. He later reached a settlement with İşbilen, leaving no outstanding claims against him, according to a written submission from her lawyers.
Mountbatten-Windsor’s connection with Turk was revealed only through the legal proceedings brought by İşbilen. The former prince has repeatedly declined to comment on the case and his associations with Turk.
His witness statement would be the first time he has publicly spoken about his relationship with Turk and how they were introduced.
It remains unclear whether Mountbatten-Windsor was aware of the money entering his personal bank account and whether he knew the full extent of its purpose. İşbilen is the wife of a former leading Turkish politician, whom she describes as a political prisoner.
Justice Adam Johnson, in proceedings last month approving Mountbatten-Windsor’s input, said it had long been Turk’s case that the £750,000 payment was made of İşbilen’s own accord, as she believed the former duke could help her husband. Lawyers for İşbilen dispute this and have told the court that tens of millions of her funds were misappropriated, with Turk failing to explain where the money went.
Turk’s lawyers have described the evidence Mountbatten-Windsor could provide as “highly relevant and highly probative.”
Much remains unknown about Mountbatten-Windsor’s own finances and how he has funded his lifestyle. For years his only declared source of income has been a Royal Navy pension for his service between 1979 and 2001, which amounts to around £20,000.
This is despite his reported acquisition of a lodge in Switzerland in 2014 for a reported £18m. He received official payments from the public purse as a working royal between 1978 and 2010, with the last year totalling £249,000.
Mountbatten-Windsor’s statements in the trial are likely to offer far greater insight into his finances and wealth than is currently available. Turk denies any wrongdoing, and there is no suggestion of wrongdoing on Mountbatten-Windsor’s part.
