A BBC investigation reveals troubling corruption links behind Prince Andrew’s lucrative 2007 property sale.
Queen’s wedding gift becomes windfall
Queen Elizabeth II gifted Sunninghill Park, a controversial 12-bedroom, 12-bathroom, six-reception-room red-brick Berkshire mansion resembling a “Tesco superstore”, to Andrew and Sarah Ferguson upon their 1986 marriage.
Listed unsuccessfully in 2001, Andrew personally marketed it to Bahrain royals during 2003 UK trade envoy visit (per deputy ambassador Simon Wilson). Kazakh billionaire Timur Kulibayev, son-in-law of autocratic President Nursultan Nazarbayev, Samruk-Kazyna sovereign wealth fund head controlling much of Kazakhstan’s oil/gas, purchased via offshore Unity Assets Corporation for £15m cash in September 2007.
Royal solicitors Farrer & Co represented seller; deal completed weeks after Andrew’s Kazakhstan trade envoy flight (£57k taxpayer-funded).
Massive overpayment raises eyebrows
Kulibayev paid £3m above £12m asking price, £7m over estimated market value, unprecedented for stagnant seven-year listing.
Responding to 2009 Daily Telegraph criticism, Andrew shrugged: “It’s not my business… If that is the offer, I’m not going to look a gift horse in the mouth and suggest they have overpaid me.”
Mansion stood empty post-sale, demolished 2016; replacement 14-bedroom house remains unoccupied.
Enviro Pacific’s bribery funds confirmed
Kulibayev’s lawyers have acknowledged that a £6 million loan from Enviro Pacific Investments, described as a “purely commercial” transaction issued at market rates, helped finance the purchase and was later repaid with interest.
However, Italian court documents from 2016–2017 in Monza and Milan, obtained through the ICIJ’s Caspian Cabals investigation, show that Enviro Pacific received funds linked to corruption through the firm Aventall.
Oil executive Agostino Bianchi pleaded guilty to bribing Kulibayev and other officials in exchange for contracts. Court records identify Massimo Guidotti, an Aventall operator described as a “mediator,” who rated Kulibayev’s influence at the highest level – five stars.
Investigators found that the final $1.5 million installment of a promised $6.5 million payment was transferred in April 2007, just months before contracts were exchanged in June. Despite this timeline, the cases were ultimately dismissed due to a lack of evidence tying specific contracts to specific officials.
Kulibayev has denied any involvement in bribery, rejected claims of influence over Enviro Pacific, and maintains that the loan was legitimate and unrelated to any corrupt activity.
Kazakhstan connections deepen scrutiny
Andrew was introduced to Kulibayev through socialite Goga Ashkenazi – the oligarch’s former partner, the mother of his children, and described by Andrew as a “close friend.”
Andrew and Kulibayev were both patrons of the Joint British-Kazakh Society alongside President Nursultan Nazarbayev in 2002. Andrew later visited Kazakhstan in 2006, the same year Nazarbayev was hosted by the Queen in the UK.
In April 2007, however, then-Europe Minister Geoff Hoon warned MPs that corruption in Kazakhstan was “rife and systematic.”
Despite Andrew’s role as a UK trade envoy and his position as fourth in line to the throne at the time, the identity of the buyer in the transaction was not publicly disclosed.
There was no legal requirement in 2007 to reveal offshore ownership, allowing the purchaser to remain anonymous.
Multiple red flags ignored
Money laundering expert Tom Keatinge (Centre for Finance and Security) identifies “blatant red flags” breaching 2004 lawyer due diligence rules:
- Public official/presidential family buyer amid corruption warnings
- Complex unexplained offshore layers/loans
- Massive overpayment
- Anonymous purchaser
Anti-corruption champion Margaret Hodge demands parliamentary/agency probe: “Proceeds of crime suspicions… nobody above law.”
Farrer & Co/Buckingham Palace declined comment (confidentiality). Buyer’s solicitor confirms knew Kulibayev identity, followed procedures.
Ongoing Kazakh probes
Post-2019 Nazarbayev resignation, Kazakhstan pursues Swiss recoveries of regime-era corruption; Italian Kulibayev bribery scheme included (he’s not defendant). 2025 reports suggest $1bn settlement talks, denied by lawyers claiming legitimate business accumulation, no investigation.
Source: BBC
Also read: Andrew and Epstein: the story that will not go away
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