Multi-millionaire furniture company boss, 51, is in a bitter High Court battle with his sister and their disabled mother, 70, over their father’s £10m property portfolio
- Furniture tycoon Joe Yusuf left his £10 million estate to his son Tanju Yusuf, 51
- Inheritance sparked a bitter family feud between Tanju, his mother and sister
- Tanju’s brother-in-law Arif Ozerin alleged to have beat him on the factory floor
- Family are now battling it out for a slice of the fortune at High Court in London
Tanju Yusuf outside London’s High Court today, where is locked in a £10m court battle with his mother and sister
A company director ‘was beaten by his brother-in-law on a factory floor’ amid a bitter family feud over their multi million pound inheritance, a court heard.
Tanju Yusuf, 51, is embroiled in a court battle with his mother and architect sister Askin Ozernin, 50, over the estate left to him by his father Joe Yusuf.
When the London furniture tycoon died in 2014, he left his fortune to his son Tanju, who became sole director of the furniture business.
But it sparked a family war as Tanju’s mother and sister battled for a slice of the fortune and culminated in Askin’s husband ‘beating Tanju with a plank of wood,’ London’s High Court was told.
Mrs Justice Falk heard how Tanju is fighting his mother and sister, who want half of a property portfolio they say is worth almost £10million.
But Tanju claims he has ‘devoted his life’ to running the family business and ‘deserves every penny he got.’
And he insists that his wheelchair-bound mother, his sister and her husband instead owe him some £1.8 million.
When his father died Tanju was handed his parents’ shares in the property company, giving him a 75 per cent stake, while his sister holds the other 25 per cent.
But Sue Yusuf, backed by her daughter, claims her signature was ‘forged’ on a document used to transfer her stake to her son in 2009.
She claims she helped to set up the business – which bears her maiden name Pekalp – and worked as a seamstress in the factory in the early days of what is now a multi-million-pound enterprise.
Askin Ozerin (left) and her husband Arif Ozerin (right) both pictured outside the court today. Mr Ozerin is alleged to have beat his brother-in-law with a plank of wood on the factory floor
Sue and Askin say the factory in Leyton, east London, could be sold for £7.2million, while three flats in Islington would fetch another £2million.
They want the 25 per cent shareholding transferred back to Sue and are asking the court to wind up the property business and divide the assets.
Timothy Evans, acting on behalf of Askin and her mother, told the court that Joe Yusuf and his wife Sue came to east London as immigrants from Cyprus in the 1960s.
They went on to build up a multi-million pound property empire, Pekalp Properties Ltd, and furniture business, Pekalp of London Ltd.
In July 2014, a hotel and casino complex and 10 villas Joe in northern Cyprus were sold for £5million and the money was split among the family.
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But the couple divorced in 2012 ‘creating fracture lines in the family,’ the court was told.
Tanju’s barrister Hefin Rees QC said Tanju remained close to his father, and did not speak to his mother ‘for six years.’
His sister Askin, along with her husband Arif Ozerin, are now standing with Sue in her fight with her son.
Matters came to a head in the months leading up to Joe’s death in 2014 when Askin’s husband Arif Ozerin ‘beat Tanju with a piece of factory wood on the factory floor’, the court heard.
Sue Yusuf, with her multi-millionaire businessman son-in-law Arif Ozerin outside London’s High Court
Mr Ozerin told the judge that he and Tanju had previously been as close as ‘real brothers’ and had celebrated business success together with a ‘high five and a bottle of whisky.’
But the barrister told him: ‘A few months before Joe’s death you attacked Tanju at the factory with a baseball bat after a telephone conversation between him and your wife.
‘You came at him and hit him several times. You are actually quite a violent man. He was assaulted in plain sight of the entire staff,’ claimed Mr Rees.
Askin Ozerin and her mother Sue Yusuf are battling for a slice of the £10 million estate
Mr Ozerin denied being ‘violent’ and told the judge: ‘It was one of the worst days of my life.
‘I tried to warn Tanju to stop abusing my wife in front of the workers. I just grabbed a piece of wood from behind me.
‘I tried to hit him, but I didn’t get a clean shot. I tried to warn him many times, stop abusing my wife.
‘He sacked me. He was a brother to me. I was shocked by what happened in 2014. I had to just walk out. I couldn’t even get my kids’ pictures from my office.
‘We were partners, we were brothers, we were family. We had barbecues at mum’s house. We were going on holiday together.’
Mr Rees insisted: ‘He wasn’t abusing your wife, he was just talking to his sister.’
Tanju claims three quarters of the property company is rightfully his and, while 25 per cent was once in his mother’s name, she was merely ‘holding it on trust’ for him.
He alleges his mother’s signature on the transfer document was genuine and says the factory is only worth about £2.6million.
But Mr Ozerin told the court that, whatever the position on paper, family members had been ‘quasi-partners’ in all the businesses.
‘The paper didn’t matter to me. We were all partners, as a family,’ he told the judge.
Mr Rees said a factory worker had reported that ‘Sue only came to the factory half a dozen times in 20 years, and Askin only three or four times.’
Denying that Sue ever worked in the factory, the barrister added: ‘They were not involved in the family business and, when they came, it was to visit Joe.
‘It is Tanju who has done all the work. Tanju has basically dedicated his life to these companies. Askin has effectively sat on her hands most of the time for 20 years.’
The High Court hearing continues.
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