Property tycoon settles legal row with one of his oldest friends just hours before facing cross examination
Property tycoon Vincent Tchenguiz has settled a bitter multimillion-pound legal row with one of his oldest friends just hours before he had been scheduled to face cross examination about alleged controversies in his work and private life.
Before the case was settled Keyvan Rahimian and Tchenguiz were described in court as formerly being "akin to brothers". The two had grown up as family friends in pre-revolution Iran and, reunited later in London, Rahimian worked as Tchenguiz's head of IT, also living in his Mayfair home for nine years before a bitter falling out in 2008. The property baron allegedly accused his friend of stealing from him.
During often heated exchanges, lawyers for Tchenguiz had earlier accused Rahimian of using the dispute over investments as a cover to air in open court "salacious" revelations he thought would be embarrassing to the Mayfair property baron.
Among the "irrelevant" revelations allegedly designed embarrass the property tycoon was a claim that money transfers had been made, using Rahimian's account, to pay for "Eastern European models to come to the UK".
Rahimian's lawyers had indicated that, if Tchenguiz gave evidence on Tuesday, they intended to cross-examine him on these money transfers to Eastern Europe. The property tycoon's lawyers characterised this as a threat and accused Rahimian of seeking to embarrass Tchenguiz into a settlement of an otherwise "ridiculous" claim.
"I don't know why you would think this was a threat of any kind," Rahimian responded. "If your client is threatened then that is a different issue. If you feel that he has something to hide then that is a different issue. That is a matter for him to explain."
Another controversial revelation from Rahimian was a claim that he had been instructed to install "spying software" on the phone of an unnamed individual who he believed did not work for Tchenguiz. He described this as a "hacked mobile phone" and said he had installed the software on three other phones handed to him by Tchenguiz's legal team.
Rahimian and Tchenguiz had been locked in a legal dispute for years, with Rahimian claiming he is owed £6.7m from Tchenguiz and the property tycoon insisting he is due £2m. The terms of the settlement are confidential.
Also this week staff working for Tchenguiz, best known for building up Britain's largest portfolio of property ground rents, submitted evidence to the Leveson inquiry, accusing the Serious Fraud Office of tipping off the press about dawn raids on the tycoon's Park Lane offices last year. The SFO is investigating the activities of Tchenguiz and his brother Robert in connection with failed Icelandic bank Kaupthing. Each vigorously deny wrongdoing and no charges have been brought.