A Russian oligarch embroiled in one of Britain’s biggest divorce battles transferred ownership of his superyacht to a Manx company to try to keep it out his former wife’s reach, a court heard.

Billionaire Farkhad Akhmedov has been engaged in a £453m divorce battle with his ex-wife Tatiana, 41.

He’s now been ordered by the High Court in London to hand over his £300million yacht Luna which was impounded in Dubai on St Valentine’s Day.

Justice Haddon-Cave ruled that Mr Akhmedov, 62, had used ’evasive and underhand’ tactics to keep the yacht beyond the reach of the English courts and avoid paying his former wife.

Mr Akhmedov had bought the 377ft Luna from his friend Chelsea football club owner Roman Abramovitch three years ago.

The Luna had been transferred by Mr Akhmedov through the names of an Isle of Man company (Tiffany Limited), two Panama corporations (Avenger Assets Corporation and Stern Management Corporation), and two Liechtenstein ’Anstalts’ (Qubo 2 Establishment and Straight Establishment).

Mr Justice Haddon-Cave said the moves were a ’deliberate mechanism’ to keep the yacht away from Mrs Akhmedov, and Mr Akhmedov had remained the owner of the vessel all along.

The yacht had been the subject of a freezing injuction in the Dubai court.

Tatiana Akhmedova had ’achieved some success recently in the Isle of Man and Dubai’, the London High Court was told.