London: Walid Juffali, 60, the Saudi billionaire has defeated in the High court when he asked the court to strike out his ex-wife Ms Estrada’s claim on the grounds that he possessed legal immunity because of his career as a Caribbean diplomat in London.
Christina Estrada the former Pirelli model has won the right to sue him in Britain after the judge ruled that Walid Juffali, who divorced Ms Estrada in 2014, had sought to defeat her action by asserting a “spurious” and ‘entirely artificial’ and clearing the way for Ms Estrada, 53, to continue her lawsuit.
Estrada is seeking a slice of the £4billion fortune of Sheikh Walid Juffali after the end of their 13-year marriage. Mr Juffali own St Saviour’s House, a seven-bedroom converted church in Knightsbridge, complete with a cinema and swimming pool which valued at £50 million in 2013.
They also possess Bishopsgate House, a £100 million estate beside Windsor Great Park, and Matthew Point Manor, a country house on the Devon coast, valued at £2.5 million in 2007.
Ms Estrada, has a 13-year-old daughter with Mr Juffali. Mr Juffali claims he pays her $100,000 (£70,000) a month and meets all the expenses of raising their daughter. He also said that he bought her a $12 million (£8 million) house in Beverly Hills.
A spokesman said that Mr Juffali believed that no “English Judge” possessed the “capacity or right to intrude on matters relating to the diplomatic arrangements and/or appointments of another state”. The spokesman added: “If this decision is upheld, it will set a dangerous precedent for diplomats everywhere.”
Mr Juffali is allegedly spent much of the time ill in hospital as he is suffering from cancer and was previously in hospital in Switzerland.