A High Court judge is set to decide how much a former Pirelli calendar model should get from her billionaire ex-husband following a legal battle over diplomatic immunity, a lawyer has said.
Saudi businessman Sheikh Walid Juffali has lost the third round of a legal fight with ex-wife Christina Estrada.
Dr Juffali, who is in his early sixties, mounted a diplomatic immunity defence after London-based Ms Estrada, who is in her fifties, made a claim on his estimated £4 billion fortune. He said she could not sue him in an English court because he had immunity through his post as permanent representative to the International Maritime Organisation for the Caribbean island of Saint Lucia.
The businessman had wanted the Supreme Court to analyse his claim after losing fights in the High Court and Court of Appeal.
But Supreme Court justices have refused to consider the case, saying it raises no “arguable point of law”.
A lawyer representing Ms Estrada said the Supreme Court decision means a judge can now analyse her client’s application for a financial order against Dr Juffali. Frances Hughes, a senior partner at Hughes Fowler Carruthers, said she expects a hearing to take place in the Family Division of the High Court in London soon.
