THE TWEED SHIRE Volume 2 #02 Thursday, September 10, 2009 Advertising and news enquiries: Phone: (02) 6672 2280 Fax: (02) 6672 4933 editor@tweedecho.com.au adcopy@tweedecho.com.au www.tweedecho.com.au
Pages 10 - 11 1
LOCAL & INDEPENDENT
Developer link to gangland investigation Ken Sapwelll
On common ground… Anti-rally protesters chatted with two of the leading world rally drivers, Dani Sordo, of Spain (sitting on car) and Sebastien Loeb, of France, the five-times world champion, after the Byrrill Creek stage of the event was cancelled last Friday. The drivers, according to locals, sympathised with opponents of the rally saying they were unaware it was to be run through a residential area or in national parks. Loeb, who won the weekend event on time but was later relegated to second place on a technicality, apparently told them ‘How could your government get away with this?’ ■ See Rally receives a mixed response, page 3
gunned down outside his Sydney home in front of his son that he feared for his life. Mr McGurk is the latest in a colourful procession of people either linked to Mr Ell or the Kings Forest site which has long-been embroiled in litigation and was once at the centre of the biggest fraud scam in the shire’s history. It was originally owned in the 1970s by Cambridge Credit before it went bust, leaving investors broke and angry. It was picked up by local car dealer Bill Bedser before being on-sold to a consortium which included Mr Ell, Brian Ray and Malcolm Edwards for $8 million. Their company, Monacorp, made some progress in developing the estate but in 1990
First Home Buyers
they decided to take the money and run. The former Hawke government tourism minister John Brown introduced them to Japanese woodchip company, Narui Norin, who bought the land for $22 million, with Mr Brown being rewarded with a $1million unit in a Brian Ray development. In the headlines that followed, Mr Brown claimed the property was a gift but the Tax Office said it was income, and hit him with an assessment of $819,000. In 1995 Narui appointed Tim Barr as its Australian representative but the property bubble burst and the company was under pressure from its bank to push harder for development consent.
After the 1999 council elections which swept the pro-development Balance Team into office in a campaign masterminded by Mr Bedser, staff insisted on a new master plan for the site because it included wetlands that fed into Cudgen Creek. Former councillor Bob Brinsmead, who owned a tourist attraction which adjoins Kings Forest, sparked a Department of Local Government investigation which failed to support his claims that staff were trying to stop the project. During this time council and Lands Department inspectors were kept busy investigating incidents of illegal clearing and burning which were undermining its environmental status. continued on page 2
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Kings Forest developer Bob Ell has become embroiled in a police investigation into the gangland-style shooting last week of reputed stand-over man and accused arsonist, Michael McGurk. Mr McGurk’s murder has triggered sensational claims of bribes involving state and federal MPs which are now being investigated by the State’s corruption watchdog, the Independent Commission Against Corruption. Mr Ell is not a suspect in the case but police are hoping that he and other McGurk associates can help identify people who may be motivated to organise what they suspect is a professional hit. The media-shy billionaire property developer is not commenting but his right-hand man on the Tweed, Reg van Rij, this week disputed claims that his boss or his company, Leda Holdings, had put the former lightbulb salesman on the payroll. ‘Mr Ell had some business dealings with him but to my knowledge he did not employ him,’ said Mr van Rij, who is project manager for the 880ha Kings Forest site which Mr Ell wants to turn into a small city. Asked whether Mr McGurk’s services may have been used to resolve ownership claims by others over parts of the site west of Cabarita since Mr Ell acquired it in 2003, Mr van Rij said: ‘Emphatically not’. According to Sydney Morning Herald reporter Kate McClymont, Mr Ell employed Mr McGurk as a debt collector and negotiator and had posted $100,000 bail for the Scotsman on recent firebombing and assault charges. The controversial businessman and lender of last resort purportedly had a recording of a conversation capable of bringing down the NSW government and claimed just days before he was
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