Naomi's date with Mr Big

Even by her own extraordinary standards, it was an exotic date for Naomi Campbell. Umar Dzhabrailov is the leader of a Chechen clan with suggested links to a murder, an assasination attempt and a Russian-based business empire that has attracted the attention of the FBI.

One of the richest men in Moscow, Dzhabrailov is said to be besotted with the 33-year-old supermodel and they were rarely apart during her recent visit to star in a jewellery presentation.

Mr Dzhabrailov is held to be the real-life template for the ruthless Chechen godfather in Frederick Forsyth's novel, Icon. Tiny, charming and fluent in English, he is a man who commands both respect and fear.

He rules his property and advertising concern with an iron hand and has the reputation of dealing severely with anyone who crosses him. But what makes him think he can handle Naomi, the famously fiery beauty with a history of anger management problems?

At one point the couple were seen displaying a certain tendresse towards each other in a nightclub. Campbell was playfully kittenish, while Mr Dzhabrailov's famous 1,000-yard stare betrayed the unmistakable signs of an indulgent twinkle.

"She drank vodka, ate caviar and danced with him until the small hours," one onlooker said. Before turning up at the Cabaret the couple had dinner at the exclusive Tretyakov restaurant. Mr Dzhabrailov and Naomi met a few years ago and he is on record saying: "I love her very much - but she's just my friend."

In 2000 Mr Dzhabrailov ran for the presidency against Vladimir Putin. But controversy has dogged his every move. In 1996 he was a partner in Moscow's Radisson Hotel with US entrepreneur Paul Tatum until the two fell out. Mr Tatum was later shot dead by a gunman, but not before he had told Moscow's public prosecutor of threats to his life and "shady figures" who were telling him to get out of Russia.

Mr Dzhabrailov told me he was the prime suspect but claimed he was being accused to smear his then associate Yuri Luzhkov, mayor of Moscow. Last year Joseph Ordzhonikidze, the city's deputy mayor, was killed in an ambush. One of the gunmen, who died, was Salavat Dzhabrailov, Umar Dzhabrailov's cousin and head of one of his security units. The latest theory is that the assasination attempt was staged to falsely implicate Umar Dzhabrailov.