Disgruntled relative’s cash feud behind macabre Polites cemetery attack

A SIMMERING dispute over cash is behind the macabre attack on tycoon Con Polites’ grave which is tearing apart one of the state’s richest families.

George Polites arrives at his office in Adelaide. Picture: Brad Fleet

• Adelaide property tycoon Con Polites’ grave desecrated
• How Con Polites became Adelaide’s real estate king

A SIMMERING dispute over cash is behind the macabre attack on the grave of tycoon Con Polites — and is tearing apart one of the state’s richest families.

Sources close to the family say the feud stems from the breakup of Con Polites’ multi-million dollar fortune and erupted with the home of his son, George, being targeted on Monday night — bizarrely timed to coincide with his birthday.

One relative, who cannot be named for legal reasons, is said to be outraged about the cash handouts in Con Polites’ 2002 will.

Sources said this was despite George Polites handing over a car, property and a sizeable monthly cash allowance in recent years in a bid to satisfy his aggrieved relative.

But this has not soothed the relative, who has continued to pursue Mr Polites for more cash and handouts.

Mr Polites’ spokesman said he was distressed about the gruesome attack, in which a dead cat wrapped in a towel was found inside a pet carrier cage when police excavated his late father’s 15-year-old grave at Centennial Park.

The late Con Polites in 1995.

“He’s (George) distressed that someone would attack his late father’s grave,” said Polites Group spokesman, lawyer Dimitrios Georgiadis.

A suspicious package was left outside George Polites’s Glenelg North riverside mansion in the early hours of Tuesday morning, just hours after Mr Polites’ 62nd birthday on Monday. The package, a white bowl with a red ribbon, was understood to have contained a fresh animal liver, birthday candle and a handwritten note.

Con Polites, born in Port Pirie in 1919, amassed his fortune in Adelaide commercial property through the Polites Group, which his son George now heads.

The tycoon was renowned for driving a fleet of Rolls Royces, smoking cigars and emblazoning city buildings with blue-and-white signs carrying his surname.

Con Polites with two of his Rolls Royces in 1986.

These signs still adorn several city hotels, motels and office buildings.

Asked about the disgruntled family member, Mr Georgiadis said neither he nor George Polites would comment because of the police investigation into the incidents.

“I don’t want to do anything that would prejudice that investigation,” he said.

A police spokesman said yesterday it was too early to say whether charges would stem from the incidents.

“Sturt CIB are continuing their investigations into the series of events . . . and at this stage there is no further update,” he said.

Sources close to the family said Con Polites’ three children — George, Helen Polites and Evon Koumi — were not close and spoke rarely, if at all.

Ms Koumi, a lawyer, is the wife of respected racehorse owner Luke Koumi, who has been involved in the equine industry for more than 30 years and owned champion Better Loosen Up and 2012 Adelaide Cup winner Rialya.

Mr Koumi also declined to comment yesterday when contacted by The Advertiser.

Ms Helen Polites could not be contacted yesterday.

Her son, Mark Salkanovic, declined to comment.

It is not known exactly when the dead cat was buried at the Pasadena cemetery plot, which was forensically examined by crime scene investigators, but it is believed to have been in recent days.

Two cars have also been attacked in an incident described as an acid bombing and believed to be linked to the feud.

George Polites took over the family empire when his father died, aged 82.

In December, 2011, George Polites’ home was peppered with up to 10 handgun bullets in a drive-by shooting, which he at the time said was a case of mistaken identity.

Empire split among wife, children, company

By Sean Fewster

Chief court reporter

THE will of property tycoon Con Polites divides his empire among his wife, three children and company — and gives strict instructions on the fate of a prized statue.

A copy of the will, held in the Supreme Court probate registry, shows administration of the estate was granted to his son George and his two daughters, Helen Polites and Evon Koumi in December 2002.

In the document, obtained by The Advertiser on Wednesday, Mr Polites leaves each of his children a “legacy” of $20,000.

He leaves a further $4000 to his sister, Florence Carr, and his car and two of his houses — in Pasadena and Plympton — to his wife, Florence Polites.

Florence and Con Polites in 1994.

Mr Polites further specifies his wife may reside in those properties for the rest of her life “or until she remarries”.

He orders his Glenelg North home be left to his wife and, in the event of her death, to George, while a property at Springfield is bequeathed to Ms Koumi.

Mr Polites orders money be provided to care for his wife and children “in their own homes” by a “kindly nurse of at least three years’s experience” should they be permanently incapacitated. Each member of the family is also appointed to the Polites Group board.

He orders the rest of his worldly effects be sold, and the moneys held in trust — save and except for one item.

“I give to my said wife, for her own use and benefit absolutely, my statue of Amicus at my (Pasadena) house,” he says.

“If she shall not survive me then I give the same to my daughter Evon Koumi ... but if she not wish to have (it) then I give it to my son George.

“If he does not wish to have it, then I direct my trustees to sell it and divide the net proceeds of the sale equally between my three said children.”

Public signs of a private dynasty

By Cameron England

Chief Business reporter

THE Polites business empire is a curious mix of the ostentatious and the secretive.

Visitors to Adelaide frequently remark on the ubiquitous Polites signs perched on the numerous properties owned by the family.

But the business itself has no website and is not known for self-promotion — at least since it has been run by George Polites, the son of founder Con Polites, who died in 2001.

George is a director of more than 50 companies, most with rather nondescript names such as Polites Corporation and Melbourne Properties, and a slew with the prefix “Princes”, which appear to be set up to own property assets.

Con Polites’grave at Centennial Park Cemetery.

The company owns many recognisable sites around the Adelaide CBD, including the Woolshed on Hindley and the Berkley on Hindley. Con Polites was once known as “the king of Hindley St”.

The Advertiser has previously reported that George’s property empire stretches to more than 50 buildings in the CBD alone, and his companies also own numerous residential holdings outside the CBD.

In 2012 George’s sons Marcus and Con (Alex), then based in Queensland, told The Advertiser they were expanding their property management business into Adelaide, but they also have not hung their shingle out in a big way.