Developers of Corkman Pub fined for rogue demolition of Carlton site

THE developer duo who illegally demolished an iconic Carlton pub have been slapped with more than half a million dollars in fines, but the magistrate presiding over the case said if he had the option of jailing the pair he would have.

THE rogue developers who illegally demolished an iconic Melbourne pub have been slapped with $600,000 in fines.

Stefce Kutlesovski and Raman Shaqiri were today each personally fined $120,000 for illegally knocking down the Corkman Pub in Carlton, while their company 160 Leicester Pty was fined a further $300,000.

They were also ordered to pay $30,000 to a community environmental project and must pay a further $35,000 in costs.

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The pair were fined more than $600k for knocking down the pub.

Magistrate Richard Pithouse said if he had the option of jailing the pair, he would have sent them to prison.

“There needs to be a putative punishment for any developers who may wish to follow this path. It has to be discouraged, it has to be stopped,” he said.

“If jail was available I would be imprisoning the accused,” Magistrate Pithouse said.

The 159-year-old pub was torn down without approval in October 2016, an act that outraged the public and prompted legal action from several bodies.

Phil Copsey's family ran the now demolished Corkman Irish pub in the 1940s when it was the Carlton Inn. Picture: Alex Coppel

Now demolished Corkman Irish pub in the 1940s when it was the Carlton Inn.

After the pub was knocked down, demolition waste, including asbestos, was illegally dumped in Cairnlea Waste.

The site in Furlong Rd was bordered by residential properties and a shopping centre and was 350 metres from both a childcare and primary school.

The pub’s owners initially apologised and promised to rebuild the hotel in the weeks after the demolition. But they soon changed tack, challenging council orders to clean up the site.

The Cairnlea site was owned by another company of which Kutlesovski and Shaqiri are the sole directors.

Leicester, Kutlesovski and Shaqiri pleaded guilty to charges of depositing industrial waste at an unlicensed site and failing to comply with a Minor Works Pollution Abatement Notice.

It followed an investigation by Environment Protection Authority Victoria.

The developers were accused of dumping material from the demolished pub at Cairnlea Waste. Picture: Rob Leeson

In a statement today EPA CEO Cathy Wilkinson applauded the tough sentence.

“We hope this case sends a message to developers and company owners that they can’t put the public and the environment’s health at risk by ignoring their legal obligations to dispose of industrial waste at a facility licenced to receive it,” Dr Wilkinson said.

“We want to work with businesses to protect Victoria from harm from pollution and waste we don’t want them to think skirting around the law is the best and quickest way to get things done. Act first, ask for forgiveness later is not a viable approach as it will end up being much more costly in the long run.”