Royal Court hears £5.5m oil shares case

Wednesday 08 August 2018

One of Jersey’s wealthiest residents is being taken to court for allegedly failing to pay fees totalling more than £5.5m.

According to the 2018 Sunday Times Rich List, Tony Buckingham is worth an estimated £425m.

In papers filed with Jersey’s Royal Court, it’s claimed he entered into a deal with Trico Ltd to find investors to put money into Heritage Oil, a company of which he was CEO and owned 34% of the shares - Mr Buckingham denies this was the purpose of the deal. Heritage Oil is a Jersey-headquartered international oil and gas producer and explorer.

It’s claimed that under the agreement, Trico would get paid commission based on the value of the shares it sold. The company says it introduced a wealthy Qatari investor, His Excellency Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim bin Jaber Al Thani, to Heritage, and that he bought into the company. Sheikh Al Thani is a former Qatari Prime Minister and Foreign Minister. 

Pictured: His Excellency Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim bin Jaber Al Thani (Wikimedia)

In his answer, Mr Buckingham’s lawyers say Heritage and Trico parted ways in July 2014 and that both parties signed an agreement whereby Trico would be paid £16m as a final settlement, negating any other deals that had been agreed.

But, according to Trico, the 2014 sale to Sheikh Al Thani allegedly excluded 57,748,991 of ordinary shares which remained in the beneficial ownership of Mr Buckingham – the so-called ‘Buckingham Shares’. He then went on to sell them to His Excellency Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim bin Jaber Al Thani, for almost £185,000,000 in 2018.

Trico claims under the terms of what’s described as ‘The Buckingham Agreement’ outlined in a letter dated 13^th February 2014, they should be paid 3% of the sale: around £5.5m. Mr Buckingham denies he ever owned the shares, and has no copy or recollection of the letter detailing the agreement.

The case is currently before the Royal Court.