SCOTS property tycoon Scot Young yesterday asked the High Court in London to return his confiscated passport after it was impounded as part of the penalty for non-disclosure of assets in a maintenance court fight.

Mr Young, whose estranged wife Michelle is fighting him for maintenance, said he needed the passport – seized almost three years ago – to get his life "back on track".

Mr Young, who made his fortune as a property-deal "fixer" for Russian oligarchs and British billionaires told Mr Justice Mostyn he wanted to set up a business opportunity overseas involving a charity.

"I want to restart my career and that would be to the benefit of all, including my family," he said.

Two years ago Mr Young, 50, was ordered to pay his former wife one of Britain's biggest maintenance packages: £27,500 a month, fees for Francis Holland secondary school in London and £1500 a week rent.

He said he could not pay because he was penniless, adding his £400 million fortune had been wiped out in a failed Russian property investment.

Mrs Young, 48, a former model, has accused Mr Young, 50, of diverting away millions of pounds in offshore funds with help from some of Britain's richest men.

Now Mr Young, who was raised in a council house in Dundee, has said he had substantially complied with his legal obligations and attended every court date, even when out of the jurisdiction – and the retention of his passport was a clear breach of his human rights.

However, Mrs Young's counsel, Edward Fitzgerald, QC, said it should stay confiscated to preserve the "status quo" until a court hearing later this year.

Mrs Young wants a "forensic accountant" to examine the finances of her husband who claims he is "well and truly bankrupt".

Mr Fitzgerald said no human-rights issues were involved and the charity mentioned by Mr Young had existed since 2003 and had nothing to do with him.

The "overwhelming likelihood", said counsel, was that Mr Young would leave the jurisdiction and there would be no way of investigating his hidden assets or getting any maintenance – which had not been paid since April 2010 – or a final settlement out of him.

He told the judge: "Despite the pathetic figure Mr Young seeks to present in court, we suggest he is thoroughly dishonest.

"He had £400 million in 2006 and hasn't explained where it has gone."

Mr Fitzgerald said: "The wife will be denied any chance of justice at all if he goes abroad.

"The fact is, this is someone who is an accomplished deceiver, and when he says he is just going abroad for this business opportunity, we invite the court to be deeply sceptical."

The judge reserved his decision for at least a week.

The hearing was the latest skirmish in a battle which started after the couple, who both live in London and have two teenage daughters, separated in 2006.

Earlier this month, Mrs Young said an anonymous backer had agreed to finance her case.

Her friends say the unidentified firm had staked an initial £3m, but Mrs Young claims it is an "open fund" with "no limit" on the amount that can be invested.

The court earlier heard that Mrs Young was on benefits, and living in modest accommodation with her daughters.

Mr Young claimed in April 2010 he was declared bankrupt by Customs and Excise over unpaid taxes of almost £2m.