Skase Grows Plump In The Spanish Sun

Eric Ellis, Puerto de Andraitx

10/07/1991

AH, TO BE bankrupt in exclusive Majorca in the balmy September sunshine. Spanish life is obviously agreeing with Senor Christopher Skase, El Don del Grande Hacienda, La Noria.

Rather than face angry creditors back home, Australia's most elusive down-and-outer is doing very well, thank you very much, working hard on his Mediterranean tan and keeping himself in the manner to which he became accustomed as head of the failed Qintex empire. A second chin is coming along fine, as is an impressive paunch. The cheeks are padding out nicely and his hair is turning blond in the perfect weather.

Australia? Where's that?

The Herald caught up with Senor Skase last weekend as he fussed around the grounds of his magnificent $A2 million villa, La Noria, in the exclusive Majorcan village of Puerto de Andraitx.

Claiming to be too laid-up with a back injury to board a plane from Spain to answer questions about his role in the $A1 billion Qintex collapse, Skase forsook his sick bed to potter happily around his grand estate.

As two women friends sunbathed topless in the garden, he enjoyed an active weekend trimming and gardening around La Noria, the house where he, his wife Pixie, his family and an army of servants have spent the past year.

The very image of Resort Man in shorts and T-shirt, Mr Agility moved freely around the property, showing no signs of pain or the restricted movement expected of someone on laser treatment, as his doctor claims.

With Pixie directing traffic, Skase bent over to gather garden tools and boxes, trimmed a creeper and helped fix a shutter.

Far from being virtually penniless as Skase claims to be, it has been estimated that up to $US500,000 has been spent modernising La Noria since the Skases moved in last October.

Indeed, a large sum appears to have been spent on the extraordinary measures to preserve the Skase privacy and lotus-eating lifestyle from prying media and investigators.

In the four months between the Herald's visits to La Noria, a huge fence and sophisticated security system has sprung up to turn La Noria into an impenetrable fortress.

On the road above, one of the few places offering an uninterrupted view of the property, a forbidding three-metre wire fence draped with black tarpaulin has recently been erected.

Neighbours say it went up soon after they first noticed photographers and camera crews in the village. Although the property the fence skirts falls outside La Noria's boundaries, they believe it was paid for by Skase.

The Australian inhabitants of La Noria brook no inquiry from the media. In fact they are downright rude. When the Herald inquired about Skase at La Noria, an Australian man called Brian confirmed that he knew him and that he was "an acquaintance from a long time ago".

Herald: Will he be returning to Australia?

Brian: I have absolutely no idea what his movements are. If you don't leave now I will call the police.

Herald: How's his back? Better?

Brian: Why don't you just f... off.

La Noria has been described as "ramshackle" by Mr Desmond Brooks, the designer of the Mirage resorts and long-time friend, employee and more recently, employer of Mr Skase.

Mr Brooks obviously hasn't visited La Noria for some time. The house is one of the grandest in Puerto de Andraitx, itself one of Majorca's more exclusive locales. (One real estate agent doesn't handle anything worth less than$US500,000.)

La Noria has a tennis court, a big swimming pool and at least two hectares of beautiful gardens.

If Skase's doctor orders therapeutic fresh orange juice to keep his health up, Skase - sorry, his servants - need only wander down to the property's own grove.

His servants' quarters are at least as big as a normal Australian suburban house while the main house is three, probably four storeys with a grand five-storey tower.

His servants' quarters are at least as big as a normal Australian suburban house while the main house is three, probably four storeys with a grand five-storey tower.

The former residence of a Spanish nobleman, La Noria is said to have eight bedrooms and three staterooms.

Judging from the work that has gone on there and the delivery trucks that drive up the Skase cul-de-sac, local real estate agents estimate that up to$US500,000 has been spent on the property.

Outwardly, Christopher Skase appears to be doing well on Majorca. His million-dollar lifestyle suggests success has been swift and generous.

The reality is different. The former Qintex boss has burnt valuable contacts, alienated developers and agents and the publicity surrounding his affairs have kept many would-be associates at arms length.

He has reportedly blown a $US1 million deposit on a failed property deal.

Australian legal efforts and numbered Swiss bank accounts aside, it would seem his efforts on the island are heavily dependent on the friendship of a mysterious self-styled member of the exiled Georgian aristocracy -Prince, Count or, depending on who you talk to, Mr Dmitri Tchokotoua.

The remarkable story of Tchokotoua is central to the even more remarkable tale of Christopher Skase in Majorca.

He and Skase have a lot in common. Both are property developers, both got their start by marrying women with wealthy fathers and both have problems with officialdom that threaten their lavish lifestyles.

In Tchokotoua's case, he married one of the most eligible women in Spain, Marietta Salas, horse-fancier and daughter of an aristocratic landowner considered old and serious Majorcan money.

In the early 70s, he and a partner saw their way to wealth as building a large public housing estate in the northern suburbs of Palma, the capital, for Majorcans lesser privileged than themselves.

The project was a disaster. Amid claims of fraud and back-handers, estate houses fell apart and Tchokotoua's associate was jailed for his part in the scandal.

With powerful connections, Tchokotoua himself has since expertly kept one step ahead of the law and his trial has reportedly been postponed many times, as recently as this month.

Conventional Majorcan wisdom attributes this legal agility to his close friendship with Spain's King Juan Carlos.

Tchokotoua's problems have not prevented him from amassing a sizable fortune in his own right. His company Porto Fornelles S.A is a major resort developer in Majorca, particularly along the coast around Puerto de Andraitx.

London's Sunday Times has estimated Tchokotoua to be worth $A300 million.

In what is thought to be his first contact with the media, the reclusive Count/Prince/Mr Tchokotoua this week confirmed he was in constant contact with Skase and employed him as a consultant.

"Yes, I know Christopher well," he said. "He is working as a consultant for my company on a few projects." He denied that Skase had equity in Porto Fornelles.

Herald: I'd heard he wasn't well. Is he all right?

Tchokotoua, shaking his head: He's fine, I spoke with him today.

Puerto de Andraitx is all a'twitter about Christopher Skase.

The fashionable boutiques, restaurants and cafes that line the main street buzz with the latest gossip of the Australian family that moved in a year ago, their capacity for scandal satisfied by brisk activity in faxed articles from Australia and Britain.

But no-one seems too surprised by the fact that he has declared himself bankrupt while big sums are spent on renovation. Puerto de Andraitx is the sort of place where Swiss bank accounts are pedestrian. Adnan Khashoggi is believed to own a house there.

"There's barely a person in town who doesn't know about them," says"Aurora", a Skase neighbour. "It's fascinating. I think people quite like all the excitement.

"I saw him today tending to the garden. He doesn't go out much but I see him a lot around the house."

Skase has even become something of a tourist attraction in the tiny village. Such is his notoriety that residents have taken to driving visiting friends up to La Noria to see "El Fugitivo's" not-so-modest pile.

Skase has even spawned a mini news agency in the village. A local hairdresser, Michel, now doubles as a stringer for a number of newspapers and television stations.

Michel cuts local matrons' hair, gleans the latest gossip and reports back to his paymasters. He recently bought a new moped to whiz up to the Skase property.

Michel said there was a lot of discussion in the village about Skase's personal life, about his friendship with a French banker who holidays in the town and about an Australian interior decorator who recently visited him.

Michel also keeps the local police informed of Skase's movements, at their request and for a modest fee, of course.

Christopher Skase gets his medical certificates from a Dr Onofe Alba Vidal, who practices at the Medisport clinic in Palma. Dr Vidal runs a very relaxed practice. Symptoms seem the least of his concerns.

more Skase stories......

How Pixie unwittingly revealed island hideaway

Skase's Reign in Spain Turns Sour