A wealthy businessman believes his former ‘wife’ is not entitled to a share in a £1.1 billion fortune because they were never legally married.

Asif Aziz, who attended Emanuel School in Battersea Rise, says he and Tagilde Aziz obtained a ‘fake’ marriage certificate in order for their adopted child to obtain a passport.

Mr Aziz, in his 40s and born in Malawi, wants a High Court judge to rescind a divorce renouncement, but Mrs Aziz, in her 50s, disputes his claims and says they are in fact married.

She believes they were together for more than 20 years and she is entitled to a ‘fair share’ of the settlement.

Analysing the evidence at a hearing in the Family Division of the High Court is Mr Justice Moor.

Richard Harrison QC, for Mr Aziz, told Mr Justice Moor that Mrs Aziz said a Muslim ceremony of marriage took place 15 years ago in Malawi.

However, he said Mr Aziz’s case was that no ceremony happened and a fake marriage ‘certificate of convenience’ was issued instead.

The marriage was used to obtain a British passport for a child they had adopted, he added.

Mr Harrison said: “Mr Aziz's evidence is clear, the parties went on holiday to Malawi in September 2002.

"They were at that time planning to relocate to England [and] they needed a passport, arrangements were made."

Meanwhile Mr Aziz was accused of ‘mounting an ambush’ by Deborah Bangay QC, for Mrs Aziz, saying he was determined to ensure she should not receive ‘any entitlement’.

She added: “Mrs Aziz is entitled to, and does, rely on the presumption of marriage and the facts that the parties presented to the world for the totality of the period between 2002 and their separation.

"It is for Mr Aziz credibly to explain why he presented to the world for a period of two decades that he and Mrs Aziz were married."

Ms Bangay said an ‘unopposed’ decree nisi had been pronounced by a judge in England in November 2016, adding: “The court needs to look no further that Mr Aziz’s obvious determination to achieve an overwhelming victory over Mrs Aziz as any cost.”

Mrs Aziz’s lawyers said she has also argued that he had ‘no capital’ and was a ‘man of straw’.

The hearing continues.