A Moscow court has ordered the seizure of a £140 million Berkshire mansion in what has been described as a “political” attack on a fugitive billionaire.

Moscow’s Tverskoi district court ruled on Wednesday that the 300-year old Park Place Estate should be seized as indemnity for hundreds of millions of pounds it says Andrei Borodin stole from the bank he once owned.

Mr Borodin amassed billions as the chief executive and co-owner of Bank of Moscow, but fled Russia in 2011 after being accused of massive fraud.