The 114-metre superyacht Luna owned by Russian billionaire Farkhad Akhmedov has been released by Dubai court, reports Reuters. The yacht put in the centre of one of the world’s costliest divorce battles was impounded last year.
The couple divorced in 2016, followed by London’s High Court order for Mr Akhmedov to pay about 40 percent of his fortune to his former wife Tatiana.
Photo courtesy: Ron Raffety
On March 27, the Dubai court of appeal claimed that the Dubai lower courts’ order to impound the yacht was wrong, allowing it to leave the port, according to Reuters.
Nonetheless, lawyers acting on Mrs Akhmedova' side, name the ruling a “procedural decision”, indicating that the case would be further referred to another Dubai court.
“Akhmedova will simply continue to pursue her claims in the Dubai Courts. She is bolstered by the fact that she successfully obtained additional orders in the English Court yesterday to secure Luna,” emphasise the lawyers.
Meanwhile, as Reuters visited the yacht Dubai's Port Rashid on Thursday, workers were installing new teak flooring on the large outdoor lower deck and a private security team was guarding it.
Built for Russian billionaire, Roman Abramovich, Luna was originally intended as a more sleek version of her owner's existing explorer, the 113-metre Le Grand Bleu. At the time of her launch, the swimming pool installed on Luna was the largest that anyone had ever seen onboard a superyacht.
Farkhad Akhmedov, according to Forbes, purchased the yacht from Abramovich in 2014. The man, valued at $1,3 billion by the magazine, later initiated a 14-month refit in Germany that gave the yacht even sleeker exterior look and implemented several improvements on one of the world's most iconic yachts.
She features at least nine decks, space for 50 crew members, two helipads, and a mini submarine. Speed wise, her to speed amounts to 19 knots, with a comfortable cruising speed of 16 knots.
At the moment, Luna remains the world’s third largest yacht next to 126-metre Lurssen Octopus and 116-metre Kleven Ulysses.