A property tycoon who lost his wife to former Arsenal star Cesc Fabregas has lashed out at the justice system after also losing the former family home to the footballer when a judge refused to halt its sale.
Elie Taktouk tried to block the £5.5mn sale, saying Fabregas’s offer was £2mn less than the value of the Belgravia flat, just yards away from Buckingham Palace.
Now he has branded the courts “appalling”, claiming to have suffered a “gross injustice” after a judge threw out his application to stop the sale.
In his first interview since the Court of Appeal ruling in July, Taktouk, 38, yesterday told the Standard: “They (the courts) are not interested if you are right or wrong, they are just trying to protect the woman, they protect the badly behaved ones, not the well behaved ones who are dedicated to their work, family or life — they don’t get anything.
“It’s the one who sits at home all day (who are favoured by the courts).”
Taktouk was forced to put the Grade-II listed property on the market as part of divorce proceedings, to provide £1.4mn for ex-wife Daniella Semaan to buy a home.
He said he was not allowed to buy her out, so told the courts what he believed to be the property’s value and said there were people interested who could “exchange and complete” in days.
He told the Standard: “They said no. So okay, fine, sell it to her boyfriend, but sell it at the correct value. But they say, ‘No we decide how to sell and at what price’.
“It’s a gross injustice that the system has done and will continue to do with everyone. I would like to tell people to be careful what they get into and take the necessary precautions.”
He added: “As much as I respect the system, the family courts in our country are appalling. It’s just a wake-up call for other men — it’s terrible.
“It’s not about justice, it’s about what’s convenient.”
Taktouk and Semaan married when they were 24, while living in Lebanon.
They had two children before their separation in 2011, months after Semaan was seen on holiday with the 26-year-old Barcelona footballer. She gave birth to Fabregas’s baby in April.
During divorce proceedings it emerged that Fabregas was behind a Barcelona company that had placed an offer on the flat, within three weeks of it going on the market.
Semaan has claimed Fabregas bought the flat as an investment and plans to rent it out. Neither Fabregas nor Semaan could be reached for comment.