The embattled Robert Tchenguiz (brother and partner of Vinvent Tchenguiz) has lost yet another court battle. This time it was over the failed deal to buy the 400 acre freehold site in Madrid that serves as the HQ of Santander.
It was to be a joint venture with a Mr Qubaisi.
The basic idea was that the then freeholder of the site(valued at £3b was in default on loan agreements with among others RBS.
If Tchenguiz and Qubaisi could buy the debts from the likes of RBS at a discount, then they could enforce the debts against the freeholder and seize control of the land. Had their scheme succeeded they stood to make a £2b profit.
However, other better resourced bidders came into the market and won the day.
Tchenguiz claimed that it was the fault of Qubaisi that the deal failed, whilst Qubaisi claimed that he had never entered into any agreement with Tchenguiz.
So Tchenguiz as is his custom went to court to sue Qubaisi to recover 113m he claimed to have expended and £2b for his lost profit.
In the court case it was unfortunate that Qubaisi could not give evidence as at the time of the case he was languishing in an Abu Dhabi prison (something to do with a fraud in Malaysia)
Giving his verdict Justice Popplewell said that "Mr Tchenguiz had been evasive and had given evidence that can only be categorised as lying"
