An appeal has been dismissed in a ‘Shakespearean tragedy’ case involving money, greed and two brothers falling out.

Shafe Buksh had taken his elder broth Habib to the high court, insisting he did not resign from island-based Apple Properties Ltd as claimed, and that shares in it were held in trust equally between the two siblings.

He won his case, which had been described by Deemster Alan Gough as having ‘something of a Shakespearean tragedy’ about it, with the two brothers having fallen out after almost three decades in business together.

‘As usual, it is all about money and greed,’ he said.

Habib and his son Omar subsequently lodged an appeal but this has now been dismissed by the appeal court with Deemster Caine ruling it would have no real prospect of success, and there was no other compelling reason why it should be heard.

In a judgment handed down in May Deemster Gough said he was drawn to the unavoidable conclusion that the defence had been ‘totally manufactured’ by Habib.

He concluded: ‘I have never come across a case where defendants supported by family members have colluded to invent a narrative designed solely to defeat a claim.’

The Deemster said he had no alternative other than to refer his judgment to Attorney General to consider whether the evidence the defendants provided needs to be investigated further.

The dispute has its roots in a driving school business set up in London around 1993, BDS, which traded under the name Britannia Driving School. Shafe contended that he and Habib - whose side of the family changed their surname to Bush - began the business on the basis that it was beneficially owned jointly and equally by them. They had each operated separate taxi businesses in Manchester.

APL was incorporated in the Isle of Man in August 1995 with the aim of acquiring a portfolio of investment properties in south west London.

Shafe maintained BDC and APS were in the equal beneficial ownership of the two brothers and that they ran everything.

Then in July 2020, Habib’s son Omar submitted a form to the IoM Companies Registry stating that Shafe had resigned as a director of APL and Habib had been appointed. Shafe said this was done without his knowledge or consent.

Later that month, Shafe was informed by HSBC Bank that Omar had been made a signatory to the APL bank account and he had been removed. The account balance at that time was just over £460,000.

Habib denied he has ever had any business relationship with Shafe and that APL was his and his alone.

But Deemster Gough branded him ‘an unreliable, indeed dishonest witness’ and he ‘would hardly know where to start with Habib’s lies’.