Royal Croquet Club’s China crisis: Debts, detention threats and secret pleas for help to Adelaide Lord Mayor Martin Haese

THE seriousness of the Royal Croquet Club’s China crisis has been revealed in pleas for help sent to Adelaide’s Lord Mayor — in which directors warned they were being threatened by Chinese Government “heavies” to settle their mounting debts.

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THE seriousness of the Royal Croquet Club’s financial crisis has been revealed in emailed pleas for help to Lord Mayor Martin Haese in which directors warned Chinese Government “heavies” were threatening them over mounting debts.

The Advertiser has obtained emails former Royal Croquet Club director Tom Skipper sent from the Qingdao International Beer Festival, where the RCC had set up the rebranded “Royal Adelaide Club”.

They contacted Mr Haese and councillor David Slama in August 2016 seeking “urgent” help to clear $1 million in debts owed to Chinese suppliers and companies.

“We have till tomorrow to sort this out otherwise the harsh reality is that Justin, Adrian and myself will have our passports confiscated and we will be detained here,” he said in the August 23 email, which was also sent to Royal Adelaide Club co-partners Justin McCarthy and Adrian Venuti.

“DPR (presumably a reference to the Democratic People’s Republic of China) have engaged heavies to threaten us which are now on site daily — including right now as we speak.”

He said they were “drastically short” of money with the RAC having only about $41,000 in the bank and $262,000 in assets that could be sold.

The Royal Adelaide Club struggled to attract visitors at the 2016 Qingdao International Beer Festival.

The email came three months before the RAC threatened to sue the Adelaide City Council and State Government, accusing them of deception over the festival’s commercial viability and alleged promises to exempt them from import duties, as exclusively revealed by The Advertiser.

The RAC had also claimed the former Labor government and council had ignored pleas for diplomatic help.

The RAC withdrew the threats, addressed to Mr Haese, Mr Slama and former trade minister Martin Hamilton-Smith, after their lawyers categorically denied responsibility for the RAC’s debt mess, estimated at $1.5 million.

Mr Skipper and colleague Stuart Duckworth liquidated the RAC in June last year with significant debts owed to creditors including Coopers.

Former RCC directors Tom Skipper and Stuart Duckworth. Picture: Dylan Coker

Mr Skipper said in his emails that Mr Haese and Mr Slama’s assistance would be greatly appreciated as “time is against us”.

He said it was “clear” that the RAC had been sold a “false promise” by Chinese officials.

“We cannot play the blame game with State Government and nor will we,” he said. “At the end of the day there’s a win for the state in branding and trade thats (sic) come out of this,

“Whats (sic) also clear is that we have 100% lived up to the deliverables of the cultural exchange.

“I didn’t mean to get short but now is not the time to point fingers. We are in this together and we should be united to work out a solution.

“The numbers and bills that I have fed you are very real as is the severity here if payments are not made.”

Lord Mayor Martin Haese. Picture: Keryn Stevens/AAP

Adelaide City Councillor David Slama. Picture: Campbell Brodie

On August 27 he again emailed Mr Haese and Mr Slama concerned about the “lack of communication from the Qingdao Government” which “puts us in a very serious predicament”.

“Would there be an appetite for either of you to fly here and sort it out?” he asked.

“Reality also stands if these debts cannot be cleared Justin and I will not be leaving China with our passports frozen.”

In the end an international associate of the RAC paid $390,000 to settle debts and enable Mr Skipper and Mr McCarthy to leave China.

Mr Haese previously told The Advertiser that he and Mr Slama and the council had provided support wherever possible to the RAC.

“It’s clearly unfortunate the venture did not succeed but it always will be a commercial venture,” he said at the time.

Mr Slama did not return calls for comment.