Jamal Khan v Mick Gatto and the $4m question
From its pier in Port Melbourne, the Waterfront commanded sweeping bay views from pretty much every table in the joint. But the good times Jamal Khan and Mick Gatto shared at this swanky restaurant are well and truly over.
Restaurants don’t get much swankier; from its pier in Port Melbourne, the Waterfront commanded sweeping bay views from pretty much every table in the joint.
At its peak during the 20-teens, it was a case of “come one, come all” as ponytailed flamboyant restaurateur Jamal Khan welcomed colourful characters to guzzle expensive wine and feast on seafood and meat platters … and, in one case, brandish an oversized golden AK-47.
“We did lots of weddings and events, dinners and shows,” Khan told The Weekend Australian this week. “The decor was extraordinary luxury on two levels to attract high-end clientele, including celebrities and high-profile businessmen.
“It was a spectacular water view restaurant … the gateway to Melbourne, all cruise ships and the Spirit of Tasmania (would pass).
“We served the freshest seafood bought daily and (kept in) live tanks. There was an extensive wine list and we serviced private boats docking in at Station Pier.”
Among the regulars was Mick Gatto.
“I used to do boxing events and after we finished we used to go back and have an after-party at his venues to help him. I used to do that all the time,” Gatto recounted to The Weekend Australian late last year.
But the good times they shared at the Waterfront are well and truly over. Given their shared interests and history, what has brought Jamal Khan and Mick Gatto to the point that one has launched a private prosecution of the other in Melbourne Magistrates Court? Put simply, the answer is money. About $4m. Or, at least, that’s Khan’s version of events.
Khan pinpoints the beginning of the end of his relationship with Gatto to 2019 when he claims he was forced to relinquish his prized Waterfront restaurant. Khan says he and his family invested $1.8m in the restaurant between 2014 and 2019. He blames Gatto for not helping him keep the venue.
Khan’s simmering rage erupted in 2023 and for more than a year he’s been waging a war of words with Gatto, mostly on social media but also through telephone calls and text messages with the industrial mediator’s key lieutenants.
He claims Gatto owes him the $4m – “Four million. Maybe I’m forgetting lots, but it’s about four millions,” Khan says – from a series of deals and business arrangements between the pair going back decades.
Gatto strongly denies this. Those close to him dismiss Khan’s claim as nothing more than fantasy and bluster, and predict it will go nowhere. It is true Khan has yet to provide any proof in support of his claims. The Weekend Australian has chosen not to detail Khan’s allegations about how the claimed $4m debt was racked up.
Police have been monitoring the dispute between the men, and on September 13 detectives from Taskforce Viper raided and arrested Khan and a key supporter at his Beaumaris home. It’s not believed any charges have been laid against either man. It’s believed at least one other police raid has been linked to the disagreement.
Throughout the past year, there were attempts by figures associated with Gatto to convince Khan to end his campaign against the Carlton Crew identity. Attempts to get the men together for face-to-face peace talks failed; in part because neither trusted the other. Khan demanded Gatto come to Port Melbourne. Gatto’s camp wanted any talks in Lygon St, Carlton.
In the end, the Yarra river was never crossed and the meeting never happened. But there have been plenty of conversations between Khan and Gatto lieutenants. Khan implored one Gatto loyalist that he has an “obligation” to stop what he described as a looming “volcano” over the alleged $4m debt, and expressed frustration at Gatto’s refusal to respond to his direct messages.
Khan went on to tell the lieutenant he believes Gatto is avoiding him because he mistakenly believes he will back off, but he vowed to press his case and warned this time Gatto will lose.
In a later conversation, the figure indicated t Gatto was willing to meet with Khan to try to resolve the $4m dispute. But in a blunt warning to Khan, the lieutenant passed on a message from Gatto; there is no way he will pay him $4m and that he doesn’t appreciate the noise he’s creating about their dispute.
Khan responded saying he was open to talking to Gatto about a compromise. In one discussion, Khan erupted at the lieutenant, declaring he doesn’t trust Gatto. With more than a dash of bravado, Khan says it’s not that he is “scared” and he can call on 100 people to join him at any talks. But he goes on to recall several other meetings he said he had with Gatto in Lygon St restaurants previously that left him feeling “f..ked”.
Khan has told the figures he’ll only back off if he gets his money, and warns that unless a deal is reached there will be a “mess”.
The Gatto lieutenant warned Khan that he was “causing problems for everyone” and suggested he stay away from Gatto and “stop this shit”. Khan responded that his camp has “got to do what it has got to do”. Khan warned the lieutenant that unless Gatto pays up he should “get ready for f..king war”.
Khan’s latest shot has been to launch the rare private prosecution of Gatto. In February, he registered a number of “private charges” in the Melbourne Magistrates Court against Gatto. The Weekend Australian has chosen not to detail those charges. A hearing date has been set for later this month.
Simply lodging a private prosecution doesn’t mean the legal action will go anywhere. The Office of Public Prosecutions has confirmed that of the 39 private prosecutions launched since 2011, it has taken over 23 and discontinued all of them. Most of the other 16 have failed to proceed for various reasons. Several are still pending.
Some of the factors the OPP considers in moving to strike out such private prosecutions are if it judges the legal action to be “vexatious, malicious or an abuse of process”.
It wasn’t just boxing and underworld types who were drawn by the Waterfront’s gravitational pull. Cath Andrews, the wife of then Victorian premier Daniel Andrews, provided the keynote speech at an Indian community function there, organised by the couple’s friend and fine whisky merchant, Luckee Kohli.
And when Kohli, who runs the Mulgrave IGA around the corner from the Andrews’ home and was famous for boasting of his extraordinary access to the premier, was looking to help Sikh brothers Lovedeep and Arshdeep Khakh promote their 2019 Kabaddi world cup tournament, of course Khan offered them the Waterfront. It was Arshdeep Khakh who was pictured wielding the golden AK-47 on the balcony of the restaurant.
Khan even shared the stage with Kohli and the Khakh brothers to pump up the Khakhs’ Kabaddi, an ancient Indian sport that resembles rugby league but without a ball.
Jamal Khan, 61, possesses the rare ability to make friends easily – and lose them easily. He’s charismatic, charming and polite but also prone to volcanic outbursts and tirades against those he counts as enemies.
Luckee Kohli, wife Sanjoo Kohli and Khan were very close, but there has been a serious falling-out. But not before Kahn, who is now in the fashion business, designed a birthday dress for Sanjoo.
Same with the Khakh brothers. Things have become so toxic between Khan and the Khakhs that legal action has resulted. And, of course, there’s the greatest schism of all; the bitter split between Khan and Gatto.
Jamal Khan, also known as Jamal Khan Mohammad, was born in Pakistan, moved to Australia and settled in Melbourne. His connection to Gatto – an industrial mediator acquitted of the 2004 shooting murder of gangland hit man Benji Veniamin in 2004 – and many key players in the underworld traces back to the late 1990s when he ran security at the Mercury Lounge nightclub at Crown casino. It was in this party atmosphere Khan says he started rubbing shoulders with some of Gatto’s closest lieutenants.
Gatto declined to comment about his dispute with Khan when approached this week. But late last year, he made his views about Khan clear to The Weekend Australian. “He is a complete fruitloop,” he said. “All I have ever done is help him. I’ve saved him all his life. And he’s turned feral. He’s threatening to do this, that and the other. The bloke needs help.
“I stuck my head in and helped him, reluctantly. I wish I didn’t. I’m not interested in meeting him, not interested in seeing him. He can keep making as much noise as he likes.”
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