Assets frozen in Dame Shirley Porter case
Westminster Council may have come a step closer to regaining the £37m that it is owed by former council leader Dame Shirley Porter.
Assets worth an estimated £30m have been frozen under court orders secured by the council, after it was alleged that the funds – held in Guernsey – belonged to Dame Shirley.
The Tesco heiress has denied any connection with the money, and has claimed in an affidavit that her assets now total just £300,000.
Dame Shirley was ordered to pay the surcharges to Westminster Council following the “homes for votes” scandal in the 1980s. In the 1990s, the district auditor found Dame Shirley guilty of “wilful misconduct and improper gerrymandering” after she unlawfully sold off council flats at knockdown prices to boost Tory election chances in marginal wards.
She was cleared by the Court of Appeal in 1998, but in 2001 the House of Lords ruled that she would have to pay back the money.
Westminster Council has argued that despite Dame Shirley’s claim that she is not a principal beneficiary, the off-shore trusts and accounts have been designed to disguise her share of the family fortune.
Dame Shirley now lives in Israel, but was once said to be the 20th richest woman in Europe with an estimated fortune of £60m.
The council has obtained disclosure orders against 14 different companies and individuals in the UK, Guernsey and the British Virgin Isles which should give it access to information about dame Shirley’s present and past wealth.
There are reports that the Porter family will challenge the freezing orders, which are believed to cover money belonging to her husband and her son. But Westminster Council has stated that it believes it has a ‘good claim’ against the frozen assets.
