UK Judge Orders Dubai Ruler To Pay Wife $733 million in Settlement

UK Judge Orders Dubai Ruler To Pay Wife $733 million in Settlement

[simple-author-box]

 

Dubai ruler and United Arab Emirates Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum has been ruled by a U.K. court to pay his ex-wife, Jordan’s Princess Haya bint al-Hussein (pictured above) and their two children, a record breaking $734 million in a divorce settlement.

Princess Haya of Jordan, 45, a daughter of the late King Hussain and a former Olympic equestrian, married Sheikh Mohammed of Dubai, 70, in 2004, becoming the sixth and youngest of his wives.

The divorce settlement is considered one of largest ever declared by a British court and is intended to support Princess Haya and the couple’s two children – Jalila, 14, and Zayed, 9.

The entirety of this massive settlement is in favour of Princess Haya bint al-Hussein, half-sister of King Abdullah, and the couple’s two children, and is to ensure their lifetime security, and to counteract the “grave risk” posed to them by the Sheikh himself, the ruling judge, Philip Moor, said.

“She is not asking for an award other than for security” and to compensate the possessions she lost as a result of the marital breakdown”

Moor directed Sheikh Mohammed to make a one-off payment of 251.5 million pounds or $333 within three months to Haya for the maintenance of her British mansions and cover the money she was owed for jewellery and racehorses, and for her children’s future security costs. He suggested they need “water tight security” setting aside $14.5 million for this.

The rest of the settlement money to be paid by the Dubai ruler to his ex wife also consists of $18 million for jewellery and $1.3 million for the high fashion clothing missing from their home in the Emirate, as well as $1.3 million for cars and $6.6 million for race horses. The costs of maintaining her two multimillion dollar mansion properties in the U.K. will also be covered.

A budget is to be set aside for 9 week holidays, as well as accommodations for a nurse and nanny, secure armoured vehicles and maintenance costs of household pets such as prized ponies.

The court’s ruling also addressed the alleged abduction of Sheik’s daughters from second official marriage with Huriah Ahmed al M’aash. Princess Latifa and Princess Shamsa were both kidnapped by their father on multiple separate occasions after attempting to flee his family and their control.

The judge found that Sheikh Mohammed “continues to maintain a regime whereby both these two young women are deprived of their liberty”.

Initially Princess Haya believed that Sheikh’s daughter had been “rescued” and were now safe with family.
But by early 2019 Princess Haya had become suspicious and voiced her concerns of safety. In this same year she also began an adulterous affair with her British bodyguard.

The court heard evidence that Princess Haya was blackmailed by four members of her security team into paying nearly $8.8 million to keep quiet about her affair with Russell Flowers, a British bodyguard. Whilst former lover and bodyguard was paid £1.2m as part of an non-disclosure agreement preventing him from ever discussing the relationship.

After being threatened via phone calls from Mohammed court documents detailed that Mohammed had divorced Haya via a “Talaq” – a legal term in Sharia law which means that a marriage is “repudiated” – on Feb. 7, 2019, without her knowledge at the time.

Mohammed used his autonomy over the press to create a hostile coverage of Princess Haya, aimed at tarnishing her reputation in the public eye. He was also found by a UK judge to be abusing high tech state hacking service Pegasus to infiltrate Haya’s phone as well as her legal teams after she fled to London amid a divorce and custody dispute.

The Sheikh of UAE previously published poems considered by the Princess to be threatening, including one entitled “You lived; you died.”

What's your reaction?