Police charge Elli Cakar of Entertainment Venues Australia with theft, deception
A failed Adelaide hotel operator has been charged with taking nearly $250,000 from investors and using the cash for personal use.
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A financially embattled former hotel operator is accused of allegedly taking $247,000 from investors and using the money for his own use.
Police arrested and charged Elli Cakar — ex-boss of failed hospitality company Entertainment Venues Australia — on October 19 with three counts of deception and one count of theft.
Police will allege that between 2015 and 2016 the 45-year-old North Brighton resident took money from three investors and used the funds for his personal use.
The payments were linked to a failed bid by Mr Cakar to transform an entire block of the prestigious suburb of Thorngate in Adelaide’s inner north into a $1.4 billion metropolis with apartments, offices, shops, a retirement village and medical centre.
The Advertiser revealed in April this year that at least four residents had invested collectively several hundred thousand dollars with Mr Cakar and his development company Living Australia.
Residents had signed contracts with Mr Cakar giving him exclusive right to purchase their properties at up to six times the market value if the project went ahead.
The Advertiser understands that the $247,000 relates to funds handed over by two residents in exchange for significantly higher prices for their properties if the development proceeded.
Mr Cakar was unable to secure the required number of properties required for the project and no development application was lodged with Prospect Council or State Government.
Mr Cakar, who formerly ran several hotels including the Royal Terrace Hotel and Glenelg Pier Hotel, would not comment on the matter but directed inquiries to defence lawyer Stephen Ey.
Mr Ey said the issue was not a criminal matter but a civil issue and that he would be “vigorously contesting” the charges on those grounds.
“This matter has been going on for some years and clearly the complainants decided to try and use the full force of the police,” he said.
“As far as we’re concerned it is a civil action.”
Mr Cakar has been bailed to appear in the Adelaide Magistrates Court on December 4.
His Living Australia company was evicted from its Unley office in July over unpaid rent. It was in the same week his pub business EVA was placed in liquidation, owing dozens of creditors millions.
Living Australia was also trying to build a $50 million homemaker centre at Seaford Meadows.