Duncan Ballantyne's travails may continue even after his time on the show "I'm a Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here" is over. In a petition at the High Court in Manchester, his former CEO has described how the multi-millionaire deliberately falsified records in order to reduce the value of his assets during the divorce proceedings from his second wife. The former Dragon's Den member may face an investigation on his return to the U.K.
The ex-employee has made a number of claims concerning the entrepreneur's finances saying that his boss had implied on one occasion that he had hidden assets and monies from the business and personal accounts in order to avoid having them included in the settlement calculations. He also referred to another conversation concerning a transfer of funds from a bank in Monaco that he believed was in relation to a hidden account. The Scotsman is estimated to be worth in the region of £175 million.
The court also heard that, at the time of the divorce in 2011, a severance package for the CEO worth £6 million had been agreed between the two men but not confirmed by the board of directors. Subsequent to the board meeting that ratified the package, Bannatyne raised the amount to £10 million, retroactively dated the agreement to 2010 and forged the minutes of the meeting so that the value of his company was reduced in his Financial Statement to family court.
In order to reach a fair and equitable division of the family assets both spouses must give a full and frank disclosure of all their property. The penalty for intentionally seeking to mislead the court may include being prosecuted for fraud. A solicitor may be able to offer a client legal resources to ensure a just and lawful division of assets.
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