Tycoon arrested in murder inquiry

Millionaire property tycoon Nicholas Van Hoogstraten was arrested yesterday in connection with the murder of a former business…

Millionaire property tycoon Nicholas Van Hoogstraten was arrested yesterday in connection with the murder of a former business associate in England.

Mr Mohammed Raja (62) was gunned down at his house in Sutton, Surrey, in 1999.

Police said Mr Van Hoogstraten (58), from Framfield, East Sussex, was questioned at a south London police station.

Mr Raja had had business connections with Mr Van Hoogstraten but at the time of his death was suing him over the ownership of certain properties.

READ MORE

Mr David Croke (58), of Brighton, was charged with Mr Raja's murder in March this year and is due to stand trial later in the year.

Mr Van Hoogstraten, whose wealth is estimated at over £200 million, made his fortune through global mining and property holdings and he has houses in the US, France, Zimbabwe and the West Indies.

He also owns Hamilton Palace - the largest country house to be constructed in Britain for 100 years - near Lewes, in the East Sussex Weald.

The house was budgeted to cost £4.5 million but the construction bill eventually rose to more than £40 million. He had been engaged in a long-running court battle with ramblers who wanted the right to walk across a footpath at the estate.

Mr Van Hoogstraten blocked the path with barbed wire, refrigeration units and a barn. But he lost a court battle in January 2000 when magistrates' ruled that the path had been blocked illegally.