A Russian oligarch has asked the European Union to recover a superyacht that was once at the centre of the UK’s largest-ever divorce settlement between him and his ex-wife.
Farkhad Akhmedov, 66, has filed legal documents in Brussels requesting that sanctions imposed on him as a result of the conflict in Ukraine be repealed so that he can reclaim the £225 million superyacht MV Luna, which is now being detained by Germany.
The yacht, which measures 377 feet and includes two helipads, a swimming pool, and its own tiny submarine, has been fought before, with Akhmedov’s ex-wife Tatiana attempting to take it in 2018 to pay off a portion of a large divorce payment.
She had been awarded £453million by a judge at the High Court in 2016 – the UK’s largest ever settlement at the time – and managed to get the yacht impounded in Dubai as part-payment, though the bid eventually failed.
The MV Luna is currently docked in Hamburg, where German officials are refusing to transfer it to Mr Akhmedov due to EU sanctions imposed on him for his ties to Russia.
The EU claims that Mr Akhmedov, who amassed a £1 billion fortune through shares in a Siberian gas company, profits from the Russian government while simultaneously funding Putin’s war.
However, legal documents filed on Mr. Akhmedov’s behalf last Friday state that he is “no longer working in the energy sector… and has not been for several years.”
They acknowledge that he is interested in local Russian politics, but they also state that he has never held a political office or been a member of a political party “in Russia or elsewhere.”
According to copies of the filing viewed by The Times, Akhmedov’s legal team said he was “not linked to the Kremlin at all” and “has never been part of the circle around President Vladimir Putin.”
Lawyers claim that Akhmedov has been involved in a legal fight with Gazprom, Russia’s largest gas supplier, for several years.
Mr. Akhmedov began his career selling furs on the London Commodities Exchange before moving on to the energy market and established Tansley Trading in 1987, which sold gas industry equipment.
Six years later, following the collapse of the Soviet Union, Mr Akhmedov was among a clutch of Russian businessmen to capitalise on the privatisation of Russia’s former state assets by buying up shares in Siberian gas firm Nortgas.
Putin bought out another big investor and became the dominant stakeholder in 1998, two years before assuming office, before selling his assets in 2012 for slightly over £1 billion.
Mr Akhmedov gained to attention in the UK in 2016 when Tatiana filed for divorce in what was at the time the country’s largest divorce case – though this has since been surpassed by Dubai Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum’s divorce from his wife.
In 2017, a judge ordered him to hand over almost 40% of his fortune to his ex-wife, totaling around £453 million.
Mr Akhmedov refused to pay, claiming that the couple had already been divorced in Russia several years before and that the UK courts had no jurisdiction over the matter.
Mr. Akhmedov began his career selling furs before moving into the energy sector, where he amassed a fortune through stock in a gas company.
This triggered a five-year judicial battle in which Tatiana organized teams of experts, including former members of the Royal Navy’s Special Boat Service, to track down and recover properties she claimed should be hers, including the MV Luna.
The vessel, which was originally built for Roman Abramovich before being purchased by Mr Akhmedov in 2014, was held at a Dubai port at one point.
The yacht’s £5 million Eurocopter and its £1.5 million Torpedo speed boat, which was customized with a 1965 Ferrari GTO steering wheel, were among the assets taken separately.
Also taken was a £40 million global express jet.
In May last year, Tatiana’s representatives announced that a court in the British Marshall Islands, which are in the central Pacific Ocean, had issued an order giving them the right to seize the super yacht from Mr Akhmedov.
But just a week later, the same court ruled that it had no power to enforce the order because only a court in Dubai, where the Luna is currently docked, could enforce a change of ownership.
In a written ruling, the court stated: ‘The Republic of the Marshall Island Maritime Administrator will not comply with the Order….the Court cannot compel the Administrator to comply with the Court’s order to transfer title (of the Luna).’
‘These judgments, while pleasant, come as no surprise,’ said a spokeswoman for Mr Akhmedov at the time.
‘The judge’s statement that the Marshall Island Registrar cannot be forced to transfer ownership validates what our lawyers have always argued: that the Luna is completely under Dubai’s jurisdiction, not the jurisdiction of the country of its flag of convenience.’
‘This is consistent with international marine law standards.’
The couple then announced in July that they had settled their case, with Tatiana accepting a £100 million cash payout and £50 million in artwork, which was less than a third of the amount she had been granted by the court.
Ms Akhmedova’s actual payout was considerably lower, as she had to pay £74.5 million to her financial supporters, Burford Capital.
A spokesman for her ex-husband said at the time: ‘The intervention in a case over which the English Court should have had no jurisdiction and the involvement of Burford ultimately achieved nothing for Tatiana.
‘
In their quest to seize Luna, Burford and her spent years and millions of pounds on a costly globe tour of several jurisdictions. Each of them failed, and the yacht is still and will continue to be owned by Farkhad and his family trusts.
‘Tatiana has ended up with little more than her ex-husband offered her six years ago. Burford has received no payment from Farkhad.
‘Those funds will have to be paid by Tatiana, thus diminishing the advantage of a settlement she could have gotten before the attorneys and financiers became involved.’