Bahraini Royal Sued for Failing to Pay £27m to Meet Bollywood Stars

Local Editor

A super-wealthy member of the Bahraini royal family has been accused of reneging on a promise to pay $35m to meet 26 Bollywood stars for whom he had an “unbridled desire and fantasy”.

A London court heard that Sheikh Hamad Isa Ali al-Khalifa, a cousin of the billionaire king of Bahrain and nephew of the country’s deputy prime minister, had agreed to pay an Egyptian middle man $1.5m for setting up each meeting plus a bonus payment of $500,000 for each third meeting.

The middle man, Ahmed Adel Abdallah Ahmed, is suing the sheikh claiming that he pulled out of the deal after handing over just $3m. Ahmed is suing for breach of contract and $20.9m in damages.

Sheikh Khalifa denies promising to pay millions to meet the Bollywood stars, including Miss World 1994 Aishwarya Rai and Slumdog Millionaire star Anil Kapoor. He admits he was “very enthusiastic at the prospect” of meeting the actors but said he expected to be charged “$30,000 to $50,000 for private meetings”.

“I am deeply disappointed that someone whom I had come to think of as a good friend is bringing this claim,” the Sheikh said in a prepared statement. “I was trusting when Ahmed offered to introduce me to my Bollywood idols. I have since been pursued by Ahmed for enormous sums of money, despite having been very generous to him in the past. I do not accept that there was ever any contractual arrangement between us, let alone one that was exclusive and could never be terminated. I believe this claim has no merit, and I shall defend it.”

He is expected to be called on Thursday to give evidence to the high court and explain his overwhelming desire to meet the Bollywood stars.

In court papers, he is alleged to have agreed to pay the huge sums for the meetings, even though they might be as brief as 15 minutes. At a cost of $1.5m a meeting the short rendezvous could have set him back as much as $100,000-a-minute.

The Bahraini royal met four Bollywood stars including Shah Rukh Khan, who is also known as SRK and referred to in the media as the “King of Bollywood”. He also went on to meet the actors Aditya Roy Kapoor, Salman Khan, and Ranveer Singh.

Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team