Developer Evan Raptis owed $15,000 by Queensland Luxury Group, a company linked to bikie bashing, drive-by shooting

A luxury car hire group with a colourful background involving a male model turned bikie, a drive-by shooting and a swathe of collapsed companies, has been wound up over a debt to a well-known Gold Coast developer.

Queensland Luxury Car Rentals is operating through a new company. Photo: Supplied

A LUXURY car hire company with colourful connections has been wound up over a $15,000 debt to Gold Coast development scion Evan Raptis.

Mr Raptis applied successfully in the Federal to wind up Queensland Luxury Group, which was placed into liquidation last Friday.

The group had previously operated the Queensland Luxury Car Rentals business, which was transferred to another company earlier this year.

Queensland Luxury Car Rentals continues to offer a fleet of luxury cars from Ferrari, Maserati, Range Rover, Lamborghini, Porsche Mercedes and more for hire or chauffeur services.

Queensland Luxury Car Rentals is now operating through a new company. Photo: Supplied

Some of the company’s fleet belong to wealthy car owners who allow the company to hire out the vehicles in exchange for a fee.

Queensland Luxury Group’s director, Nikita James Kikiras, 29, is also director of Melbourne Luxury Car Hire, which is in liquidation and more than $700,000 in debt after Consumer Affairs Victoria issued public warnings about it not returning security deposits of up to $30,000 “on time, if at all”.

Evan Raptis.

Other high-profile creditors of that company include former BHP CEO John Prescott, who loaned the Melbourne company his $400,000 Maserati but was not paid as agreed.

Other creditors include Aleksander Nevski, who is owed $47,672 by the company after he hired a Lamborghini and did not get his deposit back, and a company linked to Benowa business coach Leigh Eggins, who’s owed $34,000.

That company is linked to another car hire group Dream Drives Melbourne, which is also in liquidation owing more than $777,000 and whose showroom was peppered with bullets in a drive-by shooting in 2017 that remains unsolved.

Gun shots at the Dream Drives business on Burnley Street on Saturday, June 24, 2017, in Richmond, Victoria, Australia. Picture: Hamish Blair

A month earlier, the Melbourne showroom had been stormed by male-model-turned-Comanchero bikie Hasan Topal, who accused staff of withholding a $20,000 deposit before clocking one in the eye, fracturing a socket. Topal was convicted of assault.

Male model and Comanchero bikie Hasan Topal.

Mr Raptis declined to comment on the case and the Bulletin was unable to contact Mr Kikiras.

Liquidator Jason Bettles said information from the wound-up company was scant as he had too been unable to contact Mr Kikiras.

“At this stage, all we know about is the Raptis debt — we haven’t been able to make contact with the director,” he said.

Company records show the Queensland Luxury Car Rentals business was transferred to another company, which was registered in February and is directed by Dimitrios Kikiras, 56.

Queensland Luxury Car Rentals is operating through a new company. Photo: Supplied

The company advertises a range of luxury vehicles. Photo: Supplied

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Mr Bettles said the transfer of the business had caught his attention and that it may also attract the attention of regulators.

“We have some indication that the business has been onsold to somebody else and if so, we’d like to know when it was sold and what was paid for it,” he said.

“It has piqued our curiosity and will no doubt come to the attention of ASIC if not the taxation office.”

Queensland Luxury Car Rentals offers sports cars for hire and chauffeur services. Photo: Supplied

Mr Bettles said there was likely to be a tax debt owed by the company.

Liquidators of Melbourne Luxury Car Hire told creditors that company bought the business from Dream Drives Melbourne, but they had not been able to obtain any records of the sale.

Dream Drives was directed by bankrupt Melbourne man Andreas “Andrew” Triantafyllos, who has been linked to a swathe of car hire companies which have failed owing millions to the tax office and disgruntled customers.