A £750,000 payment to Prince Andrew at the centre of a High Court fraud row was meant for Princess Beatrice’s wedding, it was claimed.
The Duke of York was dragged into the £40million case thanks to an affidavit submitted to the court by the claimant, Nebahat Evyap Isbilen.
Isbilen, the wife of an imprisoned Turkish MP, says she’s seen an email from the alleged fraudster, Selman Turk, to her bank “explaining that this transfer was a wedding gift to Princess Beatrice owing to the close connection between our families”, the Times reported.
The Daily Mail also reported the claim last night, after reportedly seeing a transcript of a call between the alleged victim’s bank and a senior member of the Royal Household, who seemed to confirm the claim.
Isbilen says she entrusted her money to Turk and his companies in order to re-settle in Britain, and that she was told the £750,000 payment was to help her obtain a British passport.
Court papers allege that further payments of £350,000 linked to Turk were made to Andrew through a third party account, along with £225,000 to the duke’s former wife, Sarah, Duchess of York.
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Princess Eugenie was also allegedly paid £25,000 in two separate payments on the orders of Turk, according to a document obtained by The Daily Telegraph.
One of the transactions, of £15,066.05, was made from Turk’s account to “Eugenie York” under the reference “birthday gift”, it is claimed.
The duke has repaid £750,000 to Isbilen but declined to comment.
News of the case comes after Andrew paid sex accuser Virginia Giuffre a multi-million pound settlement to drop a civil case against him.
The Duke denies all allegations of misconduct made against him.
