Hoogstraten ordered to reveal assets or pay fine

The family of Nicholas van Hoogstraten's manslaughter victim won a High Court order yesterday designed to force him to disclose his assets, said to be £500m. Mohammed Raja had been suing his former business associate for £5m, claiming property fraud, when he was shot in 1999.

Van Hoogstraten, 56, is in Belmarsh prison, London, awaiting sentence. Yesterday, lawyers for Mr Raja's family went to the High Court for an order to have him committed for contempt for failing to comply with previous court orders to disclose his wealth.

Mr Justice Peter Smith ordered freezing orders on van Hoogstraten's known assets to continue until after the civil case in March. He imposed a £200,000 fine, suspended for a month, for the failure to disclose them. If van Hoogstraten does not comply within the month, the fine will be imposed and repeated weekly, rising by 10 per cent each time.

The judge said he decided on a financial penalty because imprisonment would be viewed with "utter indifference" by a man already in custody. Peter Irvin, representing the Raja family, had told the judge van Hoogstraten was well known for disregarding court orders. Van Hoogstraten was represented in court by a criminal lawyer involved in the Old Bailey trial, at which the tycoon was found guilty of conspiracy to commit manslaughter.

Mr Raja died after opening the door of his home in Sutton, south London, to two men, whostabbed him five times and shot him in the face. Before he died, he identified them as known henchmen for van Hoogstraten.