A London court has ordered the seizure and sale of a luxury car belonging to Sheikh Nasser Al-Thani, son of Sheikh Abdullah Al-Thani, the majority shareholder of Spanish football club Malaga CF, after a debt of 532,000 euros run up at a five-star hotel went unpaid.
The ruling, handed down on Thursday, 10 September, allows the Dorchester Hotel in London to take possession of the vehicle in order to recover the money it says it is owed.
Unpaid hotel bills
According to the Financial Times, the Dorchester sued Sheikh Nasser Al-Thani in March over unpaid charges for rooms, other accommodation costs and accrued interest. The final bill came to 532,000 euros, or 458,000 pounds.
Nasser Al-Thani, a former vice-president of Malaga, built up the debt over many months at the hotel, where rooms are priced between 1,000 and 8,000 pounds a night.
As a result of the court's decision, he will lose a 2011 Fiat 500 Abarth Tributo Ferrari, a car worth around 30,000 euros on the open market.
Lawyers dispute the claim
Lawyers acting for Sheikh Al-Thani said their client only recently became aware of the legal proceedings because he had not been properly notified. They said the amount claimed by the Dorchester was disputed and that Sheikh Al-Thani would take steps to have the judgment overturned.
A hotel favoured by the wealthy
The Dorchester, on Park Lane in London's Mayfair district, is one of the city's most famous five-star hotels and has long been a favourite stopover for royalty, celebrities and business figures visiting the British capital.
The hotel has been owned since 1985 by the Brunei Investment Agency, the sovereign wealth fund of the Sultanate of Brunei, and remains one of the flagship properties in its portfolio of luxury hotels around the world.
Arrest warrant issued in Spain
The car seizure in London comes months after a court in Malaga issued a European arrest warrant in early July for Sheikh Abdullah Al-Thani and three of his sons, Nasser, Nayef and Rakan, ordering their imprisonment.
The warrant was issued as part of a case opened in Spain over alleged embezzlement, unfair management and the imposition of abusive agreements at Malaga CF.
Prosecutors have sought a 14-year and six-month prison term for Sheikh Al-Thani and his sons Nasser, Nayef and Rakan, along with sentences of up to 10 years for five other former Malaga CF executives.
A European arrest warrant allows judicial authorities in one European Union country to request that a suspect be arrested and handed over by another member state, without the lengthy extradition process that would otherwise apply.
Malaga CF and the Al-Thani family
Malaga CF has been controlled by the Al-Thani family since 2010, when Sheikh Abdullah Al-Thani took over the club and pledged to turn it into one of Europe's leading sides.
Sheikh Abdullah Al-Thani is a member of Qatar's ruling family, though his ownership of Malaga is a private venture rather than a state-backed one, unlike Qatar's ownership of Paris Saint-Germain through the Qatar Investment Authority.
Backed by that investment, Malaga reached the quarter-finals of the Champions League in the 2012-13 season, but the club's fortunes soured in the years that followed amid unpaid debts and disputes involving the ownership, problems that have continued to dog the club and its owners.
No date has been given for when Sheikh Al-Thani's appeal against the London judgment, or the case linked to the Spanish arrest warrant, might be resolved.
