July 26, 2022
The ex-wife of 87-year-old former Daily Telegraph owner Sir Frederick Barclay claims he owes her £100million and asked a judge to jail him because he is hoping that one of them dies to avoid paying, the High Court has heard.
Lady Hiroko Barclay, 79, says Sir Frederick has breached orders after being told to pay her more than £100 million following the breakdown of their 34-year marriage, and is in contempt of court.
She told Sir Jonathan Cohen, who began overseeing a hearing in the Family Division of the High Court in London on Monday, that Sir Frederick had the means to pay but was aiming to ‘string things out’ until ‘one or other of us dies’.
Sir Frederick disputes her claims.
Lady Barclay said Sir Frederick had ‘the means to pay’, adding: ‘For him to pretend otherwise is false.’
She told Sir Jonathan, in a written witness statement: ‘He has no respect for me or for the court. His aim is simply to string things out, hiding behind a web of complex structures (the initial purpose behind which was the avoidance of tax), allowing our daughter Amanda to fund all his financial needs, until one or other of us dies.’
Lady Hiroko Barclay insists Sir Frederick has breached that order and accused him of being in contempt of court and asked the judge to consider a custodial sentence
British tycoon Sir Frederick Barclay, 87, (pictured today) considered applying for legal aid during his high-profile £100million divorce battle against his ex-wife of 34 years.
Sir Frederick and his twin brother Sir David were among the UK’s most high-profile businessmen.
Sir David died in January last year, aged 86.
Their business interests included Telegraph Media Group and The Ritz hotel in London.
A barrister leading Lady Barclay’s legal team told the judge on Thursday that money has not been paid – as sources indicated she had already run up legal bills exceeding £300,000
The family also has links to the Channel Islands and Monaco.
Sir Jonathan had ruled that Sir Frederick should pay Lady Barclay sums totalling £100 million after overseeing their fight over money.
He said the businessman had sold a luxury yacht and ‘applied the equity for his own use’, in breach of orders.
The judge said Lady Barclay had wanted £120 million and Sir Frederick had made an offer which might have led her to getting nothing.
In her witness statement, Lady Barclay said that while Sir Frederick claimed to have been evicted from a ‘palatial’ central London residence due to failing to keep up the mortgage, he had carried on staying there for some months, ‘seemingly undisturbed, with access to his ballroom and purpose-built oxygen chamber and attended by his housekeeper, security guard and driver’.
Sir Frederick’s lawyers insist he has been evicted.
On his failure to hand over the divorce settlement cash, Lady Barclay said: ‘Frederick says he cannot pay. He says he has no money. I do not believe him. It is not that he cannot pay, but that he will not pay. He has never had any intention of doing so.’
She added: ‘He has no respect for me or for the Court. His aim is simply to string things out, hiding behind a web of complex structures (the initial purpose behind which was the avoidance of tax), allowing our daughter, Amanda, to fund all his financial needs, until one or other of us dies.’
She went on to say: ‘If Frederick dies before I get my first lump sum, my monthly maintenance will stop. I will be left virtually penniless and almost certainly homeless after a relationship/marriage of close to half a century, where our standard of living was beyond extravagant.’
Lady Barclay also alleges that their daughter Amanda has become Sir Frederick’s ‘de facto banker’ and is ‘in charge of all financial and business matters about which he claims to know nothing’.
udge Sir Jonathan Cohen previously criticised Sir Frederick, saying he had behaved in a ‘reprehensible’ fashion.
In an earlier ruling, he said the businessman had sold a luxury yacht and ‘applied the equity for his own use’ in breach of the court’s instructions.
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