Dubai leader ordered to pay ex-wife $728m by UK court

The ruler of the Emirate of Dubai, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum, has been ordered by a court in the United Kingdom to pay his ex-wife, Princess Haya bin al-Hussein, $728 million (£500 million), as divorce settlements.

In what has been described as the largest ever payout in a divorce case by a UK court, the settlement will be used to cover Princess Haya’s security costs for the rest of her life, as well as ongoing costs for the couple’s two children, Al Jalila Bint Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum and Sheikh Zayed Bin Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, with an upfront payment of $333 (£251.5m) due in the next three months.

There is no fixed value on the total settlement, as the court ruled that Sheikh Mohammed should pay the annual security costs for his two children, aged nine and 14, for the rest of their lives or until a further court order is issued.

In his written judgement published on Tuesday, Mr Justice Moor found that the biggest threat facing Princess Haya and her children Jalila and Zayed, is from “Sheikh Mohammed himself, not from outside sources.”

According to evidence tended in court, Princess Haya had fled Dubai to Britain in April 2019 with her two children and filed a lawsuit against her estranged husband.

In a series of hearings concerned with custody, access and financial support, which have so far cost over £70m in legal fees, high court judges have found on the balance of probabilities that.

Sheikh Mohammed allegedly orchestrated the abductions of two of his other children, Princess Latifa and Princess Shamsa – in the latter case from the streets of Cambridge – and subjected Haya to a campaign of “intimidation”.