And finally… A Russian’s home is his castle – or maybe not

Sergey Fedotov, who bought Castle Grant in Moray for £1 million from RBS, was arrested in Moscow and is being held in custody accused of running a vast embezzlement scheme.

He has denied claims that he used stolen money to buy the 16-century A-listed building in 2014 after it was repossessed from Whyte when he failed to keep up with mortgage payments.

Mr Fedotov, 39, is the head of the Russian Authors’ Society (RAO), which collects royalty payments on behalf of writers. He has been accused of carrying out a £6m fraud by embezzling royalty payments to buy and sell commercial properties.

Prosecutors have alleged that Mr Fedotov profited from the scam by selling the properties to fake firms and claim he misled members of the RAO board.

He was arrested in Moscow at the end of June and last week told a court that he had lawfully bought the Highland castle.

He said: “That castle in Scotland I have, I acknowledge. But this property is irrelevant. At the time of purchase it cost 50 million roubles. The cost of a two-bedroomed flat in Moscow.”

The investigation continues.