Gold Coast Sikh Foundation in liquidation three years after selling temple for $5.61m amid unrest

A company that built the Gold Coast’s first dedicated Sikh temple, then sold it to a different religious group for $5.6m leaving some members of the community “broken hearted”, has gone into liquidation. Find out why

A company that built the Gold Coast’s first dedicated Sikh temple, then sold it to a different religious group leaving some members of the community “broken hearted”, has gone into liquidation.

Members of the Gold Coast Sikh community were left without a place of worship and questioned the payment of almost $1m in donations and government funding after the city’s brand new temple was sold for $5.61m in 2021.

The temple was sold by the Gold Coast Sikh Foundation, a private company directed and ultimately owned by accountant Surjit Ahluwalia Singh.

His company was placed into liquidation on Friday, with Michael Dullaway and Mark Pearce of Pearce Heers appointed and the public notice filed late on Sunday afternoon.

Mr Singh, 44, carried the Queen’s Baton in the 2018 Commonwealth Games relay and as proponent of the new temple rubbed shoulders with the city’s top politicians, including then-Member for Fadden Stuart Robert, who announced the project was being awarded a $20,000 federal government grant.

Surjit Singh at the Australian Fashion Federation HUXNBOSS Model Search 2023 at Imperial Hotel. Picture: Portia Large.

The Helensvale Gurdwara Sahib, on an 8300sq m site on Shepparton Road, had been open just over two years when it was sold to the Coptic Orthodox Church.

Local Sikhs said they were “in shock” and “broken hearted” at the loss of their gathering place, after trying to stop the sale by staging a peaceful protest and online campaign.

Mr Singh said he was liquidating the company as it was no longer trading.

“Ultimately it’s really just that the entity is no longer trading, so we’re just doing the formal process of winding it up to get rid of it,” he said.

“The banks got their money, I took a loss, but that’s it, no-one else is owed any money.”

Mr Singh insists none of the donated money went to his company.

The Gold Coast Sikh community protested the sale of its Gurdwara Sahib temple at Helensvale in 2021.

While the temple property was registered in the name of Mr Singh’s private company, donations and grants for the temple were collected through a registered charity, the Gold Coast Sikh Council, founded by Mr Singh and directed by him until 2019.

The council’s status as a registered charity was “voluntarily revoked” by the Australian Charities and Non-profits Commission in August 2023.

The temple’s website, which remained live this week, still displaying its bank details, said “the Gold Coast Sikh Council is now seeking funding from the community to cover the costs associated with the development and establishment of the Gold Coast Sikh Temple”.

The council also issued a flyer asking for donations to be made specifically for the development of the temple and held a “buy a brick” fundraising campaign.

Former Sikh Temple at 9-11 Shepparton Ave, Helesvale. Picture: Jerad Williams

Geelong-born Mr Singh dismissed claims by community members – a number of whom had donation receipts seen by the Gold Coast Bulletin – that they had provided funding for the temple.

“There are a lot of fake receipts which are going around and we’ve actually had a big go at a couple of guys because one of the receipt books was stolen and he never gave us back the book,” Mr Singh said.

“That was one of the reasons there was this big rift in our community, is one of these immigrants from India who did the very wrong thing and yeah, unfortunately dealing with a community group where everyone just wants a power play.”

Surjit Singh and Jasmine Stringer.

Mr Singh said “no-one donated” via the website and that allegations he took $1m from the community were “false”.

“There was a million dollars raised over the operations of four years, and there’s operational costs of a temple, which that’s where those funds were put towards,” he said.

“The funds that were provided went to the operational costs of that but the actually building was my loss, my cost, my loan, my house was on security to fund that, nobody else’s.

“What we have now is a community that doesn’t have a proper, custom-built temple on the Gold Coast because they didn’t support it, not me, I didn’t do the wrong thing.”

Mr Singh said the temple’s operations became unsustainable during the pandemic.

“Covid didn’t help – how can you run a big facility with a huge debt when no patrons are allowed to attend?” he said.

“And then the community decides not to even give you five dollars as a donation to support operational costs?

“Water rates, electricity bills, still paying the priests. It was actually the community that caused the disruption.”

Screenshots from the Gold Coast Sikh Temple website taken on June 10, 2024.

Fuelled by Fashion event powered by Porsche Centre Gold Coast & presented by Homebodii. Rachael Reid and Surjit Singh. 18 May 2024. Picture: Richard Gosling

Mr Singh is also a director of company Australia Fashion Federation, which was formed in May last year and is planning a “charity fashion gala” in Sydney this September.

The federation hosted a Gold Coast Swim Week event in February and model search judged by former Miss World Jasmine Stringer in 2023.

Mr Singh has also made headlines as a local high-end property investor, including the purchase of a beachside home at Miami for $3.9 million in December 2020.

The home was subsequently rented out by Hollywood heavyweight Baz Luhrmann and has been placed back on the market at $7m.

He lost about $500,000 on another property at Clear Island Waters, a vast waterfront home known as the “Feng Shui mansion” which he sold for $2.7m in August 2023 after buying it for $2.85m a year earlier and renovating it.