Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor has been served with a witness summons requiring him to give evidence in a High Court fraud trial, with his appearance expected around 15 December. The trial is due to begin in mid-November, and he may attend in person or by video. Mountbatten-Windsor is not accused of wrongdoing.
The case concerns allegations by Nebahat Isbilen, an elderly Turkish woman, that her former financial adviser, Selman Turk, misled her and used her wealth for his own benefit. Turk denies dishonesty. A judge approved Mountbatten-Windsor being called as a witness last month, and the summons was issued this week.
Court documents say Isbilen alleges Turk persuaded her to transfer £750,000 to Mountbatten-Windsor by claiming the money would help her obtain a passport. Turk disputes that account, saying the payment was a gift Isbilen made voluntarily to build goodwill with the then Duke of York, and was unrelated to a passport.
The court is also expected to consider a separate payment of around £768,000 from Isbilen’s account in January 2020. Turk has described it as a loan to Mountbatten-Windsor for the purchase of a chalet in Switzerland; Isbilen disputes this explanation. The £750,000 was later repaid after Isbilen’s lawyers contacted Mountbatten-Windsor in 2021, but the trial will examine claims about Turk’s conduct.
Turk met Mountbatten-Windsor in autumn 2019 through the Pitch@Palace project. The disputed payments were made near the end of Mountbatten-Windsor’s time as a working royal. His testimony would be his first public questioning since his 2019 BBC Newsnight interview. Turk’s solicitors said he denies the claims and looks forward to being vindicated in court. Mountbatten-Windsor has been approached for comment.
Sources: BBC News UK.