Greetings, lovers of trash, third-party hearsay, and unnamed sources! We’re back for another installment in the saga of the Sultan, his Russian ex-wife, and the baby whose paternity has yet to be scientifically determined.
We’ve been keeping you up to date this week on the fallout from their secret marriage, subsequent tabloid photo leak, her pregnancy, his abdication as Agong, their divorce, and the wild and weird claims that have been made since.
Following Oksana Voevodina’s revelation that Sultan Muhammad V of Kelantan left her high and dry at four months pregnant, without means to pay her Swiss hospital baby birth bills, the Sultan’s legal team has hit back. They say Oksana was given about US$20,000, various jewels, and a Porsche, and that she left Malaysia on her own accord.
Now, the he-said-she-said-his-lawyers-said-‘sources’-said-a-perceptive-cat-said conundrum will be solved the only way a piss-poor Jeremy Kyle episode knows how: With a paternity test to determine who is the father of four-month-old Leon Ismail.
British churnalism gossip rag the Daily Mail has revealed that a Moscow court will now settle the question over who is the child’s father with a DNA test.
If the rarely seen Sultan decides not to submit to the court’s request for a DNA sample, or fails to make a court appearance, the claim of paternity falls on the plaintiff.
In other words: The Sultan IS the father by default.
Oksana had previously filed a paternity petition at the Dogomilovsky District Court, listing Sultan Muhammad V as the defendant, but did not proceed as she was hoping to settle the matter out of court.
Palace lawyers based in Singapore had previously cast doubt over Leon Ismail’s paternity, saying: “There is no objective evidence as yet as to the biological father of the child.”
The Russian ex-beauty queen will now refile her paternity claim and, according to sources, will be asking for a hefty settlement to boot: A US$9.8 million (RM41 million) home in London, a US$1.5 million (RM6.1 million) Moscow apartment, along with a US$30,000 (RM123,000) monthly allowance to cover the costs of raising their son.
Sultan Muhammad V celebrated his marriage to Oksana Voevodina with a Moscow wedding last year, without the knowledge of the Malaysian taxpayer, who had been informed that he was taking sick leave from his role as Agong.
When a Russian tabloid leaked pictures of their lavish wedding, even Prime Minister Mahathir claimed he had been in the dark over the Sultan’s wedding vows.
Oksana’s public social media account showed that she was pregnant with the couple’s first child, and by January of this year, Sultan Muhammad V sensationally stepped down, halfway through his tenure as Agong (a rotating role between Sultanates).
However, this was not to be the last bombshell from the Sultan of the northeastern state of Kelantan (best known for being Malaysia’s most religiously conservative state, where Sharia Law is in place, men are regularly ticketed for wearing shorts, and food outlets are docked points if their workers are not covered enough).
Nope – shortly after the birth of their son, rumors swirled that the Sultan had divorced the Russian beauty queen-slash-reality TV star by talak. At the time, she claimed to have no knowledge of the dissolution of their marriage.
That just about brings us up to the present, where things have devolved into selling stories to the reigning kings of the tabloid journalism garbage pile, Daily Mail, and settling matters the only way that trash knows how: With a court-ordered paternity test.
CLARIFICATION: A previous version of this story stated that the couple were married in a ceremony in Moscow. In fact, the couple reportedly celebrated their marriage in Moscow after the fact. Coconuts KL apologizes for any confusion caused.
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