The Supreme Court will decide if oil tycoon should hand over £17.5m in assets to ex-wife.
A decision on whether oil tycoon Michael Prest should pay his ex-wife £17.5m in assets will be delivered next Wednesday by the Supreme Court. Mr Prest could escape having to hand over the assets, as they are property of his company, Petrodel.
In 2011 Mr Justice Moylan ordered Mr Prest, founder of Nigerian energy company Petrodel Resources, to hand over £17.5m to his former wife of 15 years.
However, the first instance judge said that as Mr Prest was unlikely to hand over the assets given that he had flouted court orders, he should transfer 14 properties in the UK and abroad that were held by Petrodel Resources and other companies owned by him to his ex-wife as part payment.
The Court of Appeal (CoA) reversed the ruling in October and Mrs Prest took her case to the Supreme Court.
Divorce lawyers said the CoA ruling would have a negative impact on wives and effectively create a “cheat’s charter” for wealthy husbands looking to escape their financial obligations to the family.
Farrer & Co partner Jeremy Posnansky QC instructed 1 Hare Court’s Richard Todd QC and Stephen Trowell QC to lead Serle Court’s Daniel Lightman at the Supreme Court for Mrs Prest.
They faced Green Russell solicitor Sarah Ingram who instructed Queen Elizabeth Buildings’ Tim Amos QC to lead Erskine Chambers’ Ben Shaw, and QEB’s Oliver Wise and Amy Kisser for Petrodel.
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