Salim Mehajer’s family goes on selling spree

THERE was a flurry of activity in Salim Mehajer’s family this week, as the countdown to his next big legal drama begins.

SALIM Mehajer likes the finer things in life. Designer suits, flash cars, expensive property and all the bling you could wish for.

He has lived in luxury mansions — apart from his recent stint in the decidedly unglamorous squalor of Silverwater jail — and has publicly told how his empire crumbled while he was behind bars for two months earlier this year.

That culminated in Mehajer being declared bankrupt by the Federal Circuit Court in March, while he was in custody, and sparked an Instagram post in which he vowed to get the decision “set aside” as “only God can bankrupt me”.

There has been a flurry of activity in recent days as Mehajer money is moved around as assets were sold and almost sold.

In recent days, there have been signs his family has made moves to sell up some of their assets.

The family of the bankrupt property developer sold their shops in Auburn — where he was once deputy mayor — and have made $2,175,000 through the sale of the block. One shop in the block is leased as a butcher and the other is a giftware shop.

Salim Mehajer is trying to have his bankruptcy annulled.

It was a substantial increase in the value of the block as it last traded for $801,000 in 2011.

It came as Mehajer himself was on the verge of selling his Canada Bay investment property, where he once wanted to build a “mega-mansion”, but pulled the rundown 1970s home off the market a day before it was set to be auctioned.

An offer had been made on the home but a Century 21 spokeswoman said it wouldn’t be accepted. The price of the modest home had dropped $100,000 from the original $1.65 million to $1.5 million.

The Mehajer family had put the Canada Bay property and the house next door to his palatial Lidcombe home up for sale only days after $200,000 bail was posted.

Shops at 84 Auburn Road, Auburn which were sold by the Mehajer family.

The Canada Bay property that was withdrawn from auction. Picture: Jeremy Piper

The properties were believed to be on sale to pay for his bail and debts, which allegedly run into the millions.

Mehajer is now on bail and awaiting trial on charges he staged a car crash last October while he was on his way to court to answer an assault charge.

Aside from a few bizarre posts on social media, Mehajer, 31, has been largely laying low since his release from prison but reappeared in court last week at a hearing where he tried to have his bankruptcy annulled.

His debts include an $8.6 million tax bill. But Justice Michael Lee thwarted his plans and rejected the application for an interim order to “stay” the bankruptcy. A full hearing of his annulment bid will take place in June.

Mehajer and former wife Aysha.

The judge said Mehajer’s plans were “Panglossian” — which means an “extreme optimism in circumstances of unrelieved adversity”, AAP reported.

A stark illustration of the different legal dramas confronting Mehajer was evident when his lawyer revealed to Justice Lee that Mehajer was party to at least 10 cases before the courts.

Since his controversial wedding that shut down Lidcombe streets in 2015, Mehajer has never been far from headlines.

But Justice Lee, it seems, was a stranger to the ongoing Mehajer circus.

“Without sounding like an English judge saying, ‘Who are the Beatles?’ I haven’t in the least bit been following the travails of your client,” he told the court.

Mehajer gave evidence and told of his ambitious plan. If the stay was granted he planned to obtain a new builder’s licence, finish construction of five multimillion-dollar projects and secure offshore finance requiring his personal guarantees.

Justice Lee observed it would be “somewhat heroic” for Mehajer, an undischarged bankrupt, to be able to secure finance.

Ultimately the judge decided he didn’t have the power to grant the interim stay on the bankruptcy order and adjourned the full hearing to be heard over two days from June 21.

The bankruptcy order means the estate of Mehajer will be managed by a trustee who will take control of his property and financial affairs and deal with his creditors.

Mehajer while he was holidaying in Paris.

The lavish staircase that contributed to Mehajer’s financial downfall.

In a twist that surprised no one who has followed Mehajer affairs over the past three years, it was something opulent and extravagant that contributed to his financial downfall.

The staircase at his Lidcombe pad was almost as famous as him. He posed with his then wife Aysha next to it in glossy magazine spreads, and it even featured in a video clip for US rapper Bow Wow’s single Too Real.

But Mehajer failed to pay $596,178 to the company that installed it. The company sued in the District Court and won its case. At that hearing he was slammed by Judge Judith Gibson, who ruled: “The plaintiff constructed a marble palace in accordance with the defendant’s instructions, the exquisiteness of which is not in dispute ...

“This is one of those rare cases where the court should make an order for indemnity costs of the proceedings, not to punish the defendant, but in response to the wholly unsatisfactory way in which the defendant has conducted the case at all relevant times.”

As the June bankruptcy hearing draws closer, Mehajer would be reminded of the words he spoke during a March bail hearing as he sought to be released.

He told the magistrate his legal team were “unable to attend to my matters” and his affairs were in an “absolute mess”.

Mehajer likes the fine things in life.

Bankruptcy would be a “catastrophe” for him.

In his eyes being declared bankrupt was second only to “death”. “I’m the only person who can address it,” Mehajer said.

The former deputy mayor of the now-defunct Auburn council said he needed to be released on bail to stave off “catastrophe” in the form of bankruptcy proceedings against him.

“Now it’s on a very thin edge,” Mehajer said.

If that is indeed the case, the June hearing could be another make-or-break moment for Mehajer.

— with AAP

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