Tony Blair bagman jailed for contempt

Tony Blair’s former fundraiser  was jailed for flouting court orders in a legal dispute over £1 million he is said to owe his Austrian princess ex-wife.

Anthony Bailey, 52, is fighting a legal battle with Marie-Therese Hohenberg Bailey, 49, over money and a Portuguese villa arising from their divorce proceedings in April 2018.

Ms Hohenberg Bailey said her former husband has defied court orders on multiple occasions, including claiming he was unemployed and reliant on universal credit payments of £14 a day.

She claims he is still living at the €4 million Vila Aurore in Sintra, Portugal, has paid for a Tesla car, and has made a number of international flights.

Mr Justice Peel told the High Court today (tues): ‘I am wholly satisfied that the husband was served with the passport orders.

‘The husband [Mr Bailey] has complete control over the trust, in essence, he has the power to do with it as he pleases.

‘I am satisfied to the criminal standard that he did indeed breach the passport order.

‘I am satisfied to the criminal standard that each of the respondents breached the financial order to remove the third party mortgages.’

He will give his decision on whether to commit Mr Bailey to jail at 1.45pm.

Ms Hohenberg Bailey is also seeking Contempt of Court orders against Cyril Woods, Baron of Slane, and Farley Rentschler, for alleged breaches of court orders relating to third party mortgages on the Vila Aurore.

A one-time Tory supporter, Mr Bailey has helped raise funds for both Tony Blair and Gordon Brown and donated £50,000 to David Miliband’s run for the Labour leadership.

Ms Hohenberg Bailey has to date amassed around £1m in legal bills, the High Court has heard.

Mr Bailey claimed he was too unwell to fly to the UK to attend the hearing in person.

He had attended a hearing on 20 January this year by an online video call.

Mr Bailey was also served with two court orders to surrender all of his travel documents before moving to Portugal on 26 May last year for medical treatment, but claimed he was not properly served with either order.

Mr Bailey disputes all of the allegations, and has claimed he does not have control over Vila Aurore, which he estimates is worth between €1m and €1.5m.

He also told the court he has ‘huge debts and loans’ totalling over £2m.

Mr Bailey had said in a statement submitted to the court: ‘The decision to make these proceedings public will cause me reputational damage and stress to the extent that if her application is granted, I will suffer punishment for the alleged breaches, before the case has even been heard.

‘I fear that such negative publicity will severely hinder my ability to obtain meaningful employment.

‘I urgently left the country myself due to the significant downward turn in my medical situation and nothing else.’

The Vila Aurore boasts 6 bedrooms, a swimming pool, a sauna, and extensive gardens, according to legal papers filed with the court on behalf of Ms Hohenberg Bailey.

Mr Bailey claims he was in debt to Mr Woods and Ms Rentschler, but the promissory notes he produced as evidence for this debt were later found to be fraudulent, it is said.

He also admitted travelling to Spain, Germany, and Rome for ‘rest and relaxation’, the court heard.

Georgina Howitt, for Ms Hohenberg Bailey, said: ‘In the context of Mr Bailey’s broader conduct, Mr Bailey’s evidence should be received with some scepticism.

‘It is not beyond the bounds of credibility that Mr Bailey received both passport orders and is misleading the court.’

Ms Hohenberg Bailey is the great granddaughter of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, whose assassination triggered World War I.

Earlier Julian Ribet, partner at Ribet Myles LLP, which is representing Ms Hohenberg Bailey, said: ‘No parent involved in a financial case on divorce wants to have to bring an application for the committal of the other parent to prison.

‘But in certain, rare cases, when there is blatant, repeated and wilful non-compliance with court orders then it may be necessary to ensure that justice is done and a fair outcome is achieved as envisaged by the court.’

Mr Justice Peel jailed Mr Bailey for 12 months and said: ‘His behaviour in obstructing the court at almost every opportunity, deploying numerous tactical plays to delay the process,

‘He has continued to present himself as the aggrieved part in this.

‘He has, it appears, continued to enjoy a very comfortable lifestyle, in contrast with his wife.

‘His behaviour displays wilful obstruction and broad-scale contempt for the court.

‘It is a shameful spectacle deserving considerable opprobrium.

‘Although the husband can, of course, apply to purge his contempt and should he make good his breaches, I will be likely to look favourably on his application.’

Mr Bailey was ordered to pay £8,000 in Ms Hohenberg Bailey’s legal costs for two hearings.

Mr Justice Peel sentenced Mr Woods and Ms Rentschler each to four months imprisonment suspended for 28 days, unless they remove the third party mortgages on Vila Aurore from the Portuguese land register.