Ian Chester lived the high life but now faces a public examination over his role in 16 failed companies on the Gold Coast

A Gold Coast developer who once indulged in flash cars and expensive vacations is now facing the likelihood of a grilling in court from the liquidator of his 16 companies.

Gold Coast property developer Ian Chester. Picture: Jerad Williams

Fallen Gold Coast property developer Ian Chester – who once splashed out on flash cars, dining and vacations – faces a grilling in court over the collapse of his 16 companies in July and August.

In a report just sent to creditors, liquidator Terry Van Der Velde from SV Partners says he will need $30,000 to $60,000 from them to conduct the public examination of Mr Chester and other key players in his Vested Property Group and related entities.

Failing that, he could source funds to pursue the matter from ASIC, which won court orders in July to freeze the assets of Mr Chester and his wife, Sophie Chester, who had spent nearly $1.5m to buy a Surfers Paradise home only three months earlier.

Ian and Sophie Chester

Investors, who tipped more than $6m into a series of speculative property developments, are not expected to claw anything back from that pool of money.

But Mr Van Der Velde now says he wants answers under oath as to how other funds were moved around in the group, which he alleges traded while insolvent.

“My investigation into the books and records of the companies reveals substantial related party and non-related party loans owing,’’ the report says.

He alleges Mr Chester personally owes $1.4m to the companies but that figure has been contested.

Mr Van Der Velde also says there is a possibility of recovering money from other “potential loans owing from third parties and related parties,’’ including nearly $500,000 identified as a “voidable transaction’’.

But investors will only be able to recoup a small amount of money from the sale of Mr Chester’s $80,000 Mercedes, Sea-Doo Jet Ski and Redco trailer, according to the report.

In addition to claims of insolvent trading, the report identifies other alleged breaches, including the criminal offence of “failure to act in good faith and/or improper use of position and/or information to gain an advantage to the detriment of the company’’.

The Vested disaster extends beyond the scope of Mr Van Der Velde’s work.

One of his colleagues at SV Partners, David Stimpson, is now serving as the liquidator of another company previously overseen by Mr Chester.

The now-defunct entity Blakeney Street Investors Pty Ltd raised $1.35m from investors to build a townhouse project in Brisbane but work stopped earlier this year. It’s currently being completed by a secured lender but the investors are not expected to recover their money.

Ian and Sophie Chester

Neither Mr Chester nor Ms Chester, both of whom worked as real estate agents, returned a call seeking comment Wednesday.

On his LinkedIn page, Mr Chester describes himself as “an astute property investor and investment-manager’’ with more than $300m in successful projects across South East Queensland.

But doubt has been cast over the veracity of those claims.

Under questioning from ASIC investigators ahead of the asset freeze, Mr Chester said he was qualified to do carpentry and boat building but had no higher education degree

Mr Chester acted as the sole director of the Vested group of companies, which he launched in Bundall in 2016.

But he was an unknown figure in the region’s development community and only received attention in 2018 when he launched an ill-fated attempt to build the first apartment complex on Sovereign Islands.

His proposed “Residences on Royal Albert,’’ which comprised just eight units priced from $3m, never proceeded.