Businessman dubbed 'Africa's youngest billionaire' told blatant lies about his assets in divorce hearing, judge says

A British-born businessman, dubbed "Africa’s youngest billionaire”, told a string of lies in a divorce battle with his estranged wife in a bitter row over the size of his fortune, a High Court judge has ruled.

Mr Justice Moor concluded that Ashish Thakkar had given “thoroughly misleading” evidence to the court and complained that he had been “repeatedly lied to” by Mr Thakkar and members of his family.

The judge’s ruling, made public on Tuesday, paves the way for his estranged wife Meera Thakkar, a cookery writer, to receive a multi-million pound payment after five years’ marriage.

Mr Thakkar had insisted he was worth just £445,532  while his 33-year-old wife claims he is a billionaire. Bloomberg, the financial newswire, has estimated his fortune at £360 million and noted that Mr Thakkar has been described in videos posted on his foundation’s web site as ‘Africa’s Youngest Billionaire’.

Mr Thakkar, 35, his 68-year-old father and sister gave evidence in the High Court over three days that the businessman had no control over Mara Group Holdings and Inspire Group Holdings Ltd, the family’s two main businesses.

Mr Thakkar, who made his fortune in IT, banking and property, had argued that the beneficiaries of his companies are his mother and sister, a claim the judge called “a blatant lie.”

Mr Justice Moor

But Mr Thakkar lost a ruling over the ownership of the companies as part of a protracted court battle that could easily run up £1 million worth of legal bills.

Mr Justice Moor said in his judgment: “I regret to say that I consider the whole thing to be palpable nonsense.

“It follows that I find I have been repeatedly lied to by all three respondent Thakkar witnesses, which has extremely serious consequences for the rest of their evidence.”

A further hearing will now decide just how much money Mr Thakkar, who lives in Dubai, has and what proportion he should give to his estranged wife, who was educated at £20,000-a-year North London Collegiate and at Warwick University.

Among the assets under dispute are a $200,000 ticket into space on Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic passenger rocket.

Mr Thakkar, who was born in Leicester but grew up in east Africa, was one of the first people to buy a ticket on the flight, which has still to take passengers into space.

He may now be forced to sell the ticket as part of his compensation payment to his wife. The couple married in Uganda in 2008 but separated in 2013.

Spokesmen for both Mr and Mrs Thakkar declined to comment. The release of the ruling was delayed for more than a week so confidential business information could be redacted.