Dubai’s leader Sheikh Mohammed ordered to pay 554 million pounds to settle custody battle

Britain’s High Court has ordered Dubai’s ruler, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum, to pay more than 554 million pounds ($1.03 billion) to settle a custody battle with his ex-wife over their two children.

Judge Philip Moor said the payout to Princess Haya bint al-Hussein and their two children would give them a lifetime of security and address the “grave risk” posed to them by the sheikh.

“She is not asking for an award for herself other than for security and to compensate her for the possessions she lost as a result of the marital breakdown,” Mr Moor said.

He directed Sheikh Mohammed to make a one-off payment of 251.5 million pounds within three months to Princess Haya for the upkeep of her British mansions, to cover the money she said she was owed for jewellery and racehorses, and for her future security costs.

The sheikh, who is the Vice-President and Prime Minister of the United Arab Emirates, was also ordered to pay 3 million pounds for his children’s education.

The children, aged 14 and nine, will be paid 9.6 million pounds in arrears.

Sheikh Mohammed was also asked to pay 11.2 million pounds per year for the children’s maintenance, and for their security when they became adults.

The payments will be guaranteed through a 290-million-pound security held by HSBC bank.

The final sum is less than half of the 1.4 billion pounds Princess Haya had originally requested.

During almost seven hours of testimony, the 47-year-old Princess said a large one-off payment would allow for a clean break and remove the sheikh’s hold over her and their children.

A spokesperson for the sheikh said he “has always ensured that his children are provided for”.

Princess Haya’s lawyer did not respond to a request for comment.

The settlement is the latest development in a legal saga that began when the princess fled to Britain in April 2019, fearing for her safety after she began an affair with one of her bodyguards.

One month later, she asked the sheikh for a divorce.

Later that year, the London court ruled Sheikh Mohammed carried out a campaign of threats and intimidation that made her fear for her life.

It also found he previously abducted and mistreated two of his daughters from another marriage.

Earlier this year, a judge found Sheikh Mohammed had ordered the phones of Princess Haya and her lawyers to be hacked using the sophisticated Pegasus state security software.

Princess Haya did not ask for any divorce settlement. She did not offer an explanation, but her lawyers said she would be entitled to seek billions as the ex-wife of one of the world’s richest men.

Mr Dyer said her demands were excessive and she was claiming for herself under the guise of her children.

He also accused the princess of misusing the children’s funds, saying she had paid out 6.7 million pounds to blackmailers, who were part of her security team who kept her affair a secret.

The court did not hear from the alleged blackmailers and Princess Haya said she used money from the children’s accounts because she was frightened.

The multi-million-dollar court fight

Princess Haya’s lawyer, Nicholas Cusworth, said legal fees over two and a half years had reached more than 70 million pounds.

“The true extent of the colossal sums spent by Mohammed will never be known,” he said.

The court ruling said most of Princess Haya’s payout would go towards security.

This was to keep the children safe from being abducted by their own father and it included cash for a fleet of armoured cars which would be replaced every few years, it said.

Mr Moor said Princess Haya and her children needed greater provision to protect them from the sheikh, especially because of their royal status.

“There will remain a clear and ever-present risk to Haya for the remainder of her life, whether it be from Mohammed or just from the normal terrorist,” he said.

Such were the concerns, that Princess Haya’s head of security — known only as Director 1 — gave evidence about her security needs with the windows blacked out, shielded with a curtain from all except lawyers.

‘Money was no object during the marriage’

Princess Haya’s lawyers told the judge the money available to the princess and the children in Dubai was “limitless”, with access to more than a dozen luxurious homes, a 400-million-pound yacht and a fleet of private planes.

She had an annual budget of more than 83 million pounds for her household and another 9 million pounds spending money, the ruling said.

Sheikh Mohammed’s lawyer said he could raise 1.25 billion pounds in cash within three months.

“I remind myself that money was no object during the marriage,” Mr Moor said.

He approved Princess Haya’s claim for 1.9 million pounds to be spent on a kitchen extension, pizza oven and kitchen curtains at her London home.

Mr Moor said he would not give a blank cheque to Princess Haya’s financial claims, but would consider her demands “with a very clear eye to the exceptional circumstances of this case”.

Princess Haya told the court it was not excessive for her to ask for millions to pay for five housekeepers, clothing, upkeep of her two mansions and regular holidays.

Her jewellery was valued at over 20 million pounds and would fill the courtroom if spread out, she said.

Mr Moor ordered Sheikh Mohammed to pay her 1 million pounds for missing haute couture garments which she said had disappeared and 5 million pounds to cover nine weeks of holidays each year.

She had been forced to sell 15.6 million pounds of assets, including horses worth 10 million and 2.1 million pounds worth of jewellery, to make ends meet while she waited for the final settlement.

He said her demands should be seen in the context that Mohammed had a 2-million-pound bill for buying strawberries one summer for his country estate in north-east London.

But Mr Dyer, the sheikh’s lawyer, described many of Princess Haya’s claims as “absurd” and “ridiculous”, and said they were at odds with her desire for her children to lead a normal life.

He said the judge’s ruling was likely to be “the largest financial remedy award certainly ever ordered and I imagine ever made by a family court”.

Reuters