The Baron, now 80, signed over the family business (and fortune) to a continuity trust created in 1983 which immediately made his son Georg, now 49, the principal beneficiary.

The father is claiming in court the trust and his son owe him $232 million in arrears with inflation and loss of value and wants to wrest control of the empire back.

The trial originally started in October 1999 after two years of legal wrangles over what evidence could and could not be submitted.

The trial had been stopped for legal clarifications for over six months before Christmas, and resumed in January.

The opening statements for the Baron's lawyer's took 15 months to complete.

There are 121,959 documents entered so far into evidence and there is an average of 600 pages of transcripts from the case each week.