A BITTER legal battle between two of Plymouth's richest businessmen is set to stretch into next year, following four days of rows over Russian millionaires and luxury villas.

City retail tycoon Chris Dawson is suing former business partner Paul Scantlebury over a soured £7million property deal in the plush South of France.

The Range owner, who has an estimated fortune of over £300million, claims investment funds managed by his ex-pal "went missing".

He says he fired Plymouth property developer Mr Scantlebury after unearthing flawed figures – and is now suing him for the cost of completing the project.

But Mr Scantlebury is counter-suing for his share of the profits amid claims that Mr Dawson tore up their agreement just weeks before the pair's second property was ready for sale in a calculated move to avoid paying his partner's 40 per cent share of profits.

Mr Scantlebury was grilled for around four hours at Bristol County Court yesterday, on the final day of a civil hearing that had earlier heard from the Russian heavyweight set to splash £2.5million on the villa in Cap-d'Ail – an exclusive resort bordering Monaco.

Mr Dawson's company CDS and Mr Scantlebury's Riviera Property Development firm had entered into a joint venture to renovate three French properties, successfully making £500,000 on the first.

Construction on the Cap-d'Ail villa began in September 2009, and was due for completion the following March.

But by December 2010 there had been "heated" phone calls and emails between the two camps as Mr Dawson and his team began to query costs.

When challenged by CDS chief executive Bradley Hurter many were inexplicably changed, the court heard, with garden and landscaping costs previously set at 18,000 Euros dropped to just 8,000 Euros.

Mr Scantlebury admitted that figures in the Russian, French and English language versions of sale contracts he had signed on Mr Dawson's behalf differed, but could not explain why.

Andrew Kearney, for Mr Dawson, said the project had got "out of hand", suggesting some figures were "plucked out of the air".

Addressing Mr Scantlebury, he suggested: "That is the same sort of lack of attention to detail that characterises your handling of this whole process; it's the same lack of attention to detail that results in inadequacy in the specifications."

But Mr Scantlebury said he was never asked for fixed prices or detailed specifications, and was instead working to "a moving target" as the Russian buyer asked for modifications.

"I accept there was a delay at the start but that's not uncommon in the building industry," he said. "When you're dealing with things in the South of France there's a more laid-back approach in the time that people take to respond."

Mr Dawson removed Mr Scantlebury from the scheme in December 2010, effectively replacing him with Mr Hurter.

Mr Scantlebury said he was "shocked" to have been sacked, adding: "I was denied the opportunity to deliver the project. I still believe that I would bring that job in."

Mr Scantlebury's wife Lucie, who had liaised closely with the Russian purchaser, told the court how the delay was triggered by ongoing discussions about which tiles, mirrors, doors and other fittings the buyer wanted.

She said the project was close to completion – despite the court hearing how only a small number of orders had been made – when her husband was sacked.

"I actually felt from the beginning that [Mr Hurter] was there to make us feel uncomfortable, to put pressure on us and to get rid of us," Mrs Scantlebury said. "And that's what happened."

Final submissions from the pair are due early next month, with a judgement expected later in 2012.