Pod Insights ABC Rewind 05 | Skase | In sickness and in health About this episode It’s 1994 and fugitive billionaire tycoon Christopher Skase lies in a Majorcan hospital bed under police guard. A Spanish court has ordered he is well enough to be extradited back to Australia to face corporate crime charges. But Skase is appealing. When the decision finally comes, it’s a shock.
Transcript 6,564 words · 25 speakers
0:00 Speaker 00 It's 1994 and Australia's most wanted man, fugitive tycoon Christopher Skyes, lies in a hospital bed on Mallorca under police guard. A Spanish court has ordered he can be extradited back to Australia to face corporate crime charges. Former Quintex boss Christopher Skyes has been ordered to pack his bags. He's to be extradited to Australia. But Skyes is having none of it and now he's appealing. When the decision comes in December, it's a shock.
0:38 Speaker 01 The self-exiled Australian businessman Christopher Skyes is free today following fast legal moves by his Spanish lawyer.
0:47 Speaker 00 Skyes wins his appeal on medical grounds, convincing the Spanish court he's too sick to travel. For those trying to force him to face any sort of accountability, Skyes had become the bane of their existence. And now this bane in Spain would not be on the plane. Instead, after 10 months under armed guard in hospital, he's a free man.
1:09 Speaker 02 There must have been about 30 journalists outside. He was wheeled out, put in the back of an ambulance and taken away.
1:16 Speaker 00 The media grabbed their photos and then high-tailed up into the hills to the Skyes family compound. Channel 9's Europe correspondent Hugh Remington is there.
1:25 Speaker 03 So at that point, there came this mad chase across the island back to his mansion.
1:30 Speaker 04 Okay, we're here, we're back. Hello.
1:33 Speaker 03 The gate swung open and indeed the son-in-law was there. There was Pixie Skyes, the wife, and there was some other bloke, there, some tall bearded bloke.
1:42 Speaker 00 A tall bearded bloke without an oxygen mask.
1:45 Speaker 03 It took me a second to realise this was Skyes because I'd been expecting him to still maintain the fraud or otherwise of the oxygen tanks. And here was this healthy-looking guy, standing, grinning.
1:59 Speaker 00 Christopher Skyes steps out and starts addressing the media.
2:02 Speaker 04 I'm not making any statement today. I'm rather short of lung power, to say the least.
2:08 Speaker 00 Short of lung capacity? Sure, Chris. But that doesn't stop him talking for nearly half an hour about his ordeal.
2:15 Speaker 04 I mean, it wasn't a mirage resort. It's a very strange... Feeling not to have seen the sun or the stars or the sky or the trees for the best part of the year. And then I read and have read about everyone from Terry Waite through to Nelson Mandela.
2:33 Speaker 00 Yes, in many ways, Christopher Skyes really was our own Nelson Mandela, wasn't he? No, no, he wasn't. Apologies to anyone who just spat out their tea.
2:43 Speaker 04 It's an experience that touches every, every physical and emotional fiber in your body.
2:51 Speaker 03 And, and here he was, the man who it seemed had got away with it, who had salted money overseas as his companies collapsed, who is now, it seemed, free to live the lavish life of a millionaire.
3:06 Speaker 04 It's a tremendous day. It's the day when justice was done.
3:11 Speaker 03 It was just an astonishing moment.
3:13 Speaker 00 I'm Mark Humphreys, and from Radio National's Rewind, this is Skyes: Fall of a Tycoon, episode five, in sickness and in health.
3:36 Speaker 00 Just as the Australian government and Skyes's creditors were about to finally get their man, he slipped right through their fingers again. His creditors have written off Quintex's one and a half billion dollar debt, but Skyes still personally owes 170 million, and a lot of people are very, very unhappy about that.
3:59 Speaker 05 Don't let this embozzing asshole enjoy the Spanish sunshine one minute longer.
4:03 Speaker 06 We don't mind a bit of an outlaw, don't mind Nick Kelly, there's still plenty of Australians will tell you that Bondi's all right and he's done his time, but Skyes hasn't even had the decency to be a decent outlaw.
4:14 Speaker 00 This is Australian TV host Andrew Denton in 1995, just a few months after Skyes wins his appeal against extradition.
4:22 Speaker 06 He's not only ripped us off, not only lied to us, but now he has the gall to go overseas and whinge to us about how we're treating him. I think that's why he really irritates people.
4:31 Speaker 00 In the mid 1990s, Denton hosts a late-night talk show on Channel 7, appropriately titled Denton. It's smart, it's satirical, and it's on a commercial network, so it's never gonna last. It has the traditional elements of the late-night format: celebrity interviews, a comedic monologue. But when it comes to Skase, the comedy has a little more bite than your average late-night show.
4:56 Speaker 00 Denton actually lines up a bounty hunter from the US state of Arizona to track Skase down, and asks viewers to pledge money to help pay for it. Extraordinary to think that just five years earlier, Skase owned the network this show was going out on. Max Donnelly is the bankruptcy trustee on the Skase case, and he's been trying to pin him down for years. So when Denton offers to deliver Christopher to him at Sydney's ferry terminal, Max is fully into it.
5:25 Speaker 07 Now, my initial reaction was, oh, that's great. Because I had us at work. And they said, well, we'll just get him back here. And we'll tell you to turn up at Circular Key, and he'll be on a ferry from Manly. And you just pick him up. I don't know, that sounds interesting.
5:42 Speaker 00 Problem is, while bounty hunting is an actual job in the US, it's not legal here in Australia. Here, a bounty hunter just sounds like someone who really loves coconut encased in chocolate.
5:54 Speaker 07 So the minute I mentioned it to my lawyer, oh my god. He said, you can't possibly get involved in this. I said, well, I just want him back. I don't care how we get him back, do I? No, god, no. No, no, no. There's rules, and, you know, we can't kidnap him.
6:08 Speaker 00 Michael Lavash is the attorney general at the time, and he's still fuming over losing the extradition case. There were many people, hundreds, if not thousands of people, who had lost money, some, you know, financially ruined. Andrew Denton is offering Lavash free delivery of Skase. All he needs is a shipping address.
6:32 Speaker 06 Okay, Michael, where would you like Christopher to deliver it? We can have him bound and gagged on the steps of Parliament House, at your front doorstep, you name it.
6:38 Speaker 08 I'd like him to come back to Australia and certainly that's always been the attitude of the government, that remains our attitude.
6:43 Speaker 06 We can bring him back, Michael. We have the technology.
6:47 Speaker 00 It's a fun show and so Lavash plays along, but eventually he gets serious and bursts Denton's bubble. We can't kidnap Skase. It's illegal and it'll stuff up any future legal case. Bagger. Denton's viewers have pledged a quarter of a million dollars. Such is the level of public contempt for Skase. But Denton concedes his grand plan is dead in the water. Oh well, it was fun while it lasted.
7:19 Speaker 00 But Denton's not the only one dreaming up ways to snare the fugitive Skase. A group of suspected former SAS soldiers called the White Knights for Justice also comes up with a plan to kidnap him. Then, an ex-CIA agent makes an offer to the Australian government. She'll lure Skase out of Spain to another country that can extradite him for a hefty fee. And while it's fun watching these half-baked schemes play out, authorities shut them down. Fast. It can't have vigilantes taking things into their own hands.
7:56 Speaker 00 But when word gets back to Skase about all these foiled attempts to kidnap him, his paranoia grows. Christopher's still adjusting to life back at Lenaria, but his health seems to have miraculously improved. He's even trying to rebuild his business empire. But having made such a song and dance about being too sick to fly, he can't just jump on a plane. So he relies heavily on his loyal lieutenant, son-in-law, Tony Larkins.
8:24 Speaker 09 Since the failed extradition, Skase has embarked on the promised comeback. He's been associated with resort schemes in California and the Caribbean. Son-in-law Tony Larkins has made a number of trips to the Caribbean and two to Cuba. Larkins acted for Skase as a bidder for this forty million dollar resort casino in the French Antilles.
8:48 Speaker 00 Tony is living his best life, jetting from one holiday island to another, trying to strike the next big deal. And this goes on for years. Until one day in 1998, Skase thinks, hmm, maybe it's been long enough.
9:04 Speaker 00 Maybe, just maybe, I can get away with it.
9:10 Speaker 00 Skase decides it's time. He's going to fly to Saint Martin in the Caribbean to try and lock in a contract. That's Saint Martin in Australian speak. There's one slight problem, though. A little birdie on Mallorca has got wind of the plan and whispers in the ear of Australian federal police investigator David Moore. Remember him? He's the man who dealt with the turncoat, Skase's former de facto son-in-law, Lawrence Vander Plaatsch. If "former de facto son-in-law" sounds too complicated, he was also Skase's wife's daughter's former boyfriend. Got it? Word is, the man who says he's too sick with emphysema to take a medevac flight back
9:52 Speaker 00 to Australia is planning to hop on a regular flight to the Caribbean.
9:56 Speaker 10 I'd had some very good contacts and some reliable people who were watching Skase over in Spain. And it seemed that the information that we had regarding his movement out of Mallorca was very strong.
10:09 Speaker 00 The little birdie is dead right.
10:12 Speaker 10 Skase was going to go to Saint Martins, as he was interested in buying a property over there, or developing a property in Saint Martins. In order to get to Saint Martins, he'd had to fly through Florida.
10:23 Speaker 00 David calls the FBI, and they come up with a plan to intercept Skase as he transits through the US.
10:30 Speaker 10 And all was in place, but it relied on us keeping a low profile and letting Skase just run through the travel.
10:38 Speaker 00 But it's not just the feds who've heard this rumour. David Moore's little birdie might be tweeting a little too loudly, because one day, he gets a call from a journalist who says...
10:51 Speaker 10 They've heard information that he was planning a trip to Saint Martins, and I remember saying to that person, "Listen, I can't really talk about any detail, but I'd appreciate it if you stepped back away and just left it alone, because we were aware that he may be about to travel. But if he's made aware of your interest, that will just blow the whole thing."
11:12 Speaker 00 David Moore is so close. It's all systems go, and the last thing he needs is some scoop-hungry journo poking their nose in and ruining everything. Eyes on Skase clock him arriving at Mallorca's airport.
11:26 Speaker 10 Skase was at the airport about to leave and he observed a journalist there who he knew and he recognised and he turned around and went straight back.
11:37 Speaker 00 Skase jumps into a car and retreats to Lenoria.
11:40 Speaker 10 So it was all in place, everything was arranged and of course it was blown at the last minute by Skase noticing someone at the airport.
11:49 Speaker 00 All that planning, out the window, blown by a fucking journalist.
11:56 Speaker 00 Back when John Howard's Liberal government was elected in 1996, it was ready to give up on the chase for Skase and it asked bankruptcy trustee Max Donnelly to wind it up and send in his final invoice. But when opposition leader Kim Beazley got wind of this, he was not having it. Too many people had lost too much money to give up on getting Skase now. The public agrees and so Justice Minister Amanda Vanstone is on the case.
12:25 Speaker 11 My job was to make it clear to Skase and to the Australian public that we did give a damn that this guy had stolen money from pensioners and from workers' super funds. We gave a big damn and I think Australians knew he was having us on. He was just spinning a yarn, "I don't have the money here really, where have you put it?" Somewhere, just waiting for us to give up. The plan was very simple, just ask Attorney General's Department, "What could we do to annoy this guy? I don't care what it is. If it's annoying, let's do it."
12:58 Speaker 00 Governments have the power to make positive change to people's lives, but it's also good to know that sometimes they're just there to annoy people. But what can the government do to annoy Skase? It's already clocked up a failed extradition attempt. One day in 1998, a bunch of suits, some of the biggest brains in the country, are trying to come up with a plan to nab Skase when a young staffer pipes up.
13:23 Speaker 11 She says, "Why don't you take his passport?" And someone laughs and says, uh, well, he's not going anywhere because he knows we'll try and nab him if he leaves Mallorca. And she said, that's not the point. She said, the point is, he'll need a passport because his is running out. I've checked, she said. Uh, his is running out and he'll need it for ID. So if he wants to make any financial transactions.
13:46 Speaker 00 The suits sit up and start paying attention.
13:49 Speaker 11 Up the ears start to go. Yes, he will. He'll be shifting money around. He'll need ID to do that and it'll be very inconvenient if he doesn't have a passport. So when he comes in to renew it, why don't we say we're going to renew it, keep the passport and then not renew it? Give the girl a gold star.
14:05 Speaker 00 Give the girl a gold star indeed. Sure enough, not long after this meeting, Skase tries to renew his passport. Spanish police confiscate it and an Australian government official triumphantly flies home with the precious cargo. When Amanda Vanstone gets Skase's passport in her hot little hands, she's famously pictured waving it around with glee.
14:27 Speaker 11 I recall going out to the airport, actually, to meet the plane the person was coming in with who had the passport. I was ecstatic. I had it for a while, I don't know where it is, it might be in the garage, I don't know.
14:39 Speaker 00 If Skase thought flying with a lung condition was going to be difficult, try doing it when your passport is in Amanda Vanstone's garage.
14:48 Speaker 00 This is a small victory for the Australian government, but allows it to tighten the screws on Skase. And now, it's going to tighten them even harder. It asks the Spanish government not to renew Skase's residency permit. With no passport, he's stuck. But, and I can't believe I'm saying this again, Skase is one step ahead of authorities.
15:13 Speaker 00 He sends his son-in-law, Tony Larkins, passport shopping. Yes, apparently that's a thing. Tony susses out Panama, Venezuela and even Belize. New passports in Belize will set him back 50 grand apiece US, and that's way out of Skase's budget. So Larkins finally settles on the Caribbean island of Dominica, where for much less, you can buy yourself citizenship and, along with it, a brand new passport. Christopher and Pixie Skase are now citizens of Dominica. But, there's a catch. They have to give up their Australian citizenship.
15:53 Speaker 00 The Scaces are trapped in a prison of their own making, trapped by Christopher's quote-unquote emphysema, you know, that condition he says stops him from flying anywhere. When Pixie's daughter Alex gets married in London, they can't go. It's too risky to travel anywhere that has an extradition treaty with Australia. And there's lots of speculation back home about how Pixie is coping with all of this, from a life of excess to a life in exile. For months now, Sue Smethurst from New Idea Magazine has been secretly negotiating with the Scaces to do an exclusive interview with Pixie. And finally, she lands it. It's a huge coup for the young journo.
16:37 Speaker 12 We wanted to go behind the walls of La Noria and see what she was really like. We didn't really want to speak with Christopher. He was hated. People hated him. You know, there was still a lot of baggage that went around him. We were voyeuristic. We wanted to see what Pixie looked like. You know, we really wanted those images. There was all sorts of rumours swirling around for a long time that she was an alcoholic, that she was down and out, and that she was miserably unhappy behind the walls of this mansion, this sort of gilded cage that she was a prisoner in. And we wanted to see her.
17:11 Speaker 00 Sue flies to Mallorca and sits down with the infamous, elusive Pixie Skase.
17:17 Speaker 12 And the woman that we found was very demure, still quite defiant. But she was not the woman that she was when she'd left Australia. She'd made enormous sacrifices to live in Spain with him. She says that she was never a prisoner, that she was free to come and go as she wanted. But the truth was that was not the case at all. But here we were chatting with her while she's literally sitting there doing cross stitch.
17:45 Speaker 00 There are some firm rules around the interview. No talking to Christopher and no going inside the house. But it's all going so well, the family invites Sue to lunch the next day.
17:57 Speaker 12 And it was almost like a proof of life moment. Is he actually real? Is he in there? You know, has he died? What's going on here? We need to actually see him in the flesh. We met Christopher and we were able to have lunch with him down in the port the next day, which was lovely. He was charming and that really cemented a relationship going forward. When he wanted to say some things down the track, we were the ones that got the phone call.
18:22 Speaker 00 Christopher also lines up an exclusive interview. His is with The Golden Tonsils, the legendary, high-rating broadcaster John Laws, who's got a TV show on Foxtel at this time. Like Pixie's interview with New Idea, it's for a price. This is the era of chequebook journalism, when they did actually use chequebooks. And for the cases, the coffers are running low.
18:49 Speaker 00 So, in mid-2000, John Laws travels to Mallorca and he is allowed inside Lenoria. It's a big moment. Until now, no journalists have ever been allowed to film inside the house. It starts off pretty chummy, but before long, it gets a bit squirmy. Laws is eyeing off all the valuable furniture and art and he starts asking some hard questions, like, why do you still have all these things? And where did all the money go?
19:22 Speaker 13 Well, to be truthful, that which was mine was a bunch of share certificates.
19:29 Speaker 13 And that was about all I ever had.
19:32 Speaker 00 Never bought a painting?
19:33 Speaker 13 No, no.
19:34 Speaker 00 Must have.
19:35 Speaker 13 No, I was not...
19:36 Speaker 00 So who bought the paintings? The camera pans around the room, crammed with pricey art and antiques. Hmm, maybe they should have stuck to their no journos inside the house policy.
19:49 Speaker 13 Well, the paintings were and have always been members of the family. They've either been pixies, or they've been daughters, or they've been other members of the family.
20:00 Speaker 00 Oh, it all belongs to family members, not him. Well, that's that settled then. Story checks out with me. But then Laws asks him how he found the money to buy Lenoria.
20:13 Speaker 13 This is rented. It's leased, contrary to attempted aspersions to the country. We've had a lease agreement here, a rolling lease agreement for nine years, going on ten. When it finishes, we'll either continue to stay here or move somewhere else.
20:30 Speaker 00 There's no other way to put this. That is a bald-faced lie. One he tells a few times. Truth is, the Skase did buy Lenoria when they left Australia. For $2 million. And since we're handing out gold stars in this episode, gold stars to the camera crew. The vision pans away from Skase and onto the bodyguard standing around. We know there are other house staff too. And Laws wonders, if he's as broke as he says he is, how on earth can Skase afford to maintain this lifestyle?
21:04 Speaker 14 Are they here 24 hours a day?
21:06 Speaker 13 Yes.
21:07 Speaker 14 That must be expensive.
21:08 Speaker 13 No.
21:10 Speaker 14 Why not?
21:11 Speaker 13 I was just nodding.
21:14 Speaker 13 They're better young fellows than better students.
21:16 Speaker 00 Sounds like he's underpaying them, but I don't think that's something Christopher Skase would do. Surely he's not paying them at all. As John Laws presses further, Skase starts making some extraordinary claims about the Australian government that, frankly, make him sound like a bit of a fruitcake. In fact, these claims even involve an ingredient in fruitcake.
21:37 Speaker 13 So they would like to get me expelled to Algeria and then swap me for a container load of dates. I mean, if it wasn't so serious, it'd be humorous.
21:47 Speaker 00 It's been a few episodes since we checked in on Skase's net worth, but it sounds like he's currently worth one container of dates.
21:56 Speaker 00 Skase then goes fully off the deep end and suggests the government didn't really want him back to face justice in Australia, they wanted him to die in the sky.
22:05 Speaker 15 The perfect solution would have been, "Sorry folks, he died in flight."
22:11 Speaker 14 And you think seriously, isn't that a bit paranoid?
22:15 Speaker 15 No.
22:17 Speaker 14 You seriously think a government would have been happy to deliberately allow you to die?
22:24 Speaker 15 Certain.
22:27 Speaker 15 Certain.
22:29 Speaker 14 You're accusing a government of conspiracy to murder?
22:34 Speaker 00 Baffling, two decades earlier, he went off with Pixie, now he's off with the Pixies.
22:41 Speaker 00 Money is clearly running out on Mallorca, first the Skase sell those exclusive interviews, and then...
22:48 Speaker 15 My mates rang me and said, "Christopher's going through a bit of a hard time, he's ringing up his old mates for a few dollars."
22:56 Speaker 15 And I'd done all right, I'd done very well out at Quintex.
23:00 Speaker 00 Stefan Bolzecchi was the investment manager at Quintex in the early days, he'd moved on before it all fell apart, but now Skase is hitting him up for cash.
23:10 Speaker 15 We all sent a few dollars over, right, now whether we were all stupid or not, I would not know, but out of that came, "Well, why don't we go over to Mallorca and talk about old times and sit around the pool drinking, I used to say, 'Tell lies', but you're not allowed to say those things, gross exaggerations would be better."
23:26 Speaker 00 So Stefan and a few mates hop on over to Mallorca, but when they arrive at Lenaria, they find a different Christopher to the one they knew.
23:34 Speaker 15 He was pretty despondent all the time about the failure, he was trying to, let's say, put a good face on it, I think he found, I personally think he found it pretty tough, you know, because of the life that he'd led of building something and watching it all collapse and spending your time on fighting lawyers and things, I think that took a fair toll.
23:56 Speaker 00 Now, since this is an ABC podcast, I think this must be the part where we go for balance. We've heard some pretty negative things about Skase. Well, Stephen has, let's say, an alternative view of Skase's dealings.
24:09 Speaker 15 But what were the bad things he'd done? Okay, he went broke and people lost money. I accept that. But that did not alter my view of Christopher, and I did not and do not have a problem with what he did.
24:20 Speaker 00 Back in Brisbane, the AFP's David Moore is still quietly working the Skase case, cooking up another plan to reel him in, still trying to catch their big fish.
24:32 Speaker 10 I put each one of those documents in a sealed evidence bag and I walked out of there very happy.
24:37 Speaker 00 Ah, the smoking gun. Remember that moment in our last episode when turncoat Lawrence Vander Plaats handed over those critical documents to David Moore in the Brisbane Hotel? Well, now, Moore is finally getting his chance to use them.
24:54 Speaker 10 I proposed that we could charge Skase for a perjury.
25:00 Speaker 00 Those documents are dynamite. They prove that back in 1989, Skase bought a house on Chesson Road in the London suburb of Fulham. He bought it through an offshore company he'd set up in the Cayman Islands, a popular tax haven. And he puts it in his stepdaughter Alex's name and tells her it's hers, no strings attached. But, I'm sorry, Alex, here come the strings.
25:29 Speaker 00 It's actually an elaborate ruse to hide some of the money he was siphoning out of Australia. And after a while, he transfers it out of Alex's name and into one of his companies. Now, the problem here, aside from how Alex must have felt, is this. Back in the early 90s, Skase told Australian courts he knew absolutely nothing about the Cayman Island Company or this house on Chesson Road. Not only is it a lie, it's perjury. When Skyes realises he might be in trouble over lying under oath, he promptly sells the house and deposits the cash in his Austrian bank account. Yes, he had an Austrian bank account too.
26:14 Speaker 00 But David Moore wants to use this perjury as grounds for a new extradition order. He travels to the Cayman Islands to dig a bit deeper.
26:23 Speaker 10 I appeared before a judge of the Royal Court of the Caymans, and he subsequently granted authority for me to go behind a corporate veil to obtain the details that showed that Christopher Skyes was the director and pretty much the owner of those companies, which were subsequently used in the purchase of these properties.
26:47 Speaker 00 Could the Australian police finally be about to snare their man? I hope so, because I don't know how many more times I can say that.
27:00 Speaker 00 But unbeknown to the AFP's David Moore, there's a spanner in the works. In March 2001, Christopher Skyes summons new ideas Sue Smethurst to Mallorca. So once again, she jumps on a plane. But this time, she arrives to find a vastly changed Christopher Skyes.
27:20 Speaker 12 He was a shadow of the person that I had seen only six or seven months earlier.
27:25 Speaker 00 Christopher has a new diagnosis to share with Australia: stomach cancer. But this time, he really is sick.
27:34 Speaker 12 And he'd started chemotherapy at that time. And visibly, he was yellow jaundice. He was absolutely skeletal. He was weighing about 52 kilos. He was clearly someone on the end of their journey.
27:50 Speaker 00 The Skyes are broke. They're forced to sell the family compound where they've lived for a decade, Lenoria, and move into a smaller villa. Sue says it's still stunning. But it's a long way from the days of Bromley and their penthouses at the Mirage. She finds Skyes reflective and subdued, but still furious with Australian authorities. Because now, the government isn't just chasing Skyes, it's also after his loyal son-in-law, Tony Larkins. The AFP has just issued a warrant for Tony's arrest. If Christopher won't say where all those missing millions went, maybe Tony will. As for Pixie, she blames everyone but Christopher for how things have come to this.
28:36 Speaker 00 She calls John Howard a "coward for pursuing him", and says the Australian government is "killing" her husband. Skyes himself tells Sue:
28:45 Speaker 12 That he felt that life on the run had probably given him cancer. It had eaten. The stress of what they'd endured, even though they'd been so publicly defiant, behind the scenes, the stress of what they're enduring, the constant court cases they're chasing, had taken its toll on all of them.
29:03 Speaker 00 And finally, there's a hint of remorse.
29:07 Speaker 12 He was very regretful. He felt very sorry for the people who'd lost money. And he was certainly far more considerate, perhaps, of those people. So we knew then that his time was limited. He was very different in his demeanour in that interview. Much more reflective, very apologetic to Pixie and her daughters and the family for all they'd endured, for the sacrifices that they'd made. And he said that he felt that, in the end, was it all worth it? Probably not. He said they'd had a great life, they'd enjoyed themselves, but they'd sacrificed a lot and he was somewhat remorseful
29:52 Speaker 12 that he'd dragged his family through all of that with him.
29:58 Speaker 00 But remorse doesn't equal accountability. And Prime Minister John Howard makes it clear this cancer diagnosis isn't going to get Skyes off the hook.
30:08 Speaker 16 We're dogged in the pursuit. I mean, we will get our man. Eventually, I hope. I'm a really, you know, very serious lawyer. Australia remains collectively outraged at his behaviour and they want him back.
30:22 Speaker 00 The federal police's David Moore is frantically piecing his case together for this second attempt to extradite Skyes. If Skyes really is sick this time, the government needs to act fast. But before they can pounce...
30:37 Speaker 17 Heading this bulletin, Christopher Skyes reported dead in Spain.
30:43 Speaker 00 On Monday the 5th of August 2001, Christopher Charles Skase, husband, loving stepfather, and ultimately Australia's most wanted man, dies at the age of just 52. The man Australia spent more than a decade pursuing has made his final escape from justice.
31:04 Speaker 17 The local English-language newspaper, the Mallorca Daily Bulletin, says he died at his home with his wife Pixie by his side.
31:11 Speaker 12 She was absolutely distraught and suddenly facing a very different future to the one that she'd had before. She was a very savvy woman, and she relied on him. So who was she after he died? What would happen to her?
31:31 Speaker 00 Christopher Skase is cremated on his adopted home of Mallorca.
31:36 Speaker 18 The high flyer of the 1980s, with a penchant for white suits and flamboyant living, was laid to rest in a simple ceremony, underneath the concrete arches of what can best be described as a crematorium built in the brutal futurist style of modern Spanish architecture. Pixie Skase, the ever-loyal wife, arrived in a late-model black Mercedes.
31:55 Speaker 00 Pixie's dressed all in black and carries a single yellow rose. After the ceremony, Skase's stepdaughter Amanda Larkins speaks to the media.
32:06 Speaker 18 The family say the stress of the past decade led directly to his death.
32:10 Speaker 19 Killed him, killed him. Not contributed, it outright killed him. It destroyed him and I watched it happen. I blame the Australian government.
32:21 Speaker 00 Then Amanda's husband Tony fires a warning shot.
32:24 Speaker 20 Trying to harass her will only incite violence from me. I'm serious. I put up this for 10 years. I don't have a great few years. If anyone attempts to harass me, it's Skase. You will not do it again.
32:41 Speaker 00 When challenged, the former tycoon chose ill-health as his first refuge. But who would have thought that fantasy would eventually become reality?
32:50 Speaker 11 I generally think when someone's died, it's a sad thing. You know, their life's come to an end. But I thought, well, you know, you didn't deserve a good life after what you did. There was a terrible cartoon about two politicians who'd, you know, had terrible arguments. And one had died. And they asked this guy, was he going to the funeral? And he said, "I'm sorry, I've left my dancing shoes home."
33:15 Speaker 11 And that cartoon came to mind.
33:18 Speaker 00 I think we can assume Amanda Vanstone wasn't the one who sent the yellow rose.
33:24 Speaker 00 The Skyes' family's lives revolved around Christopher for so long. What now that he's gone? Pixie lost her Australian citizenship when they bought Dominican passports. Amanda and Tony have lived with the Skyes' for a decade. And there's a warrant out for Tony's arrest. Do they stay on Mayorca? Or do they try and beg forgiveness to come back home? Tony has been a director of Skyes' companies, a de facto bodyguard, driver and media manager. The day after Christopher dies, Tony gets a nasty surprise. The Spanish taxman comes knocking. Skyes has left behind a hefty tax debt. And, as a company director, Tony's liable.
34:08 Speaker 00 There's absolutely no money to pay it. Tony is totally broke. So the Larkins skip Mayorca to bunker down in Thailand with some mates. But when Tony gets sick of Thailand and wants to come home, he has to contact Max Donnelly, the bankruptcy trustee, to deal with the outstanding warrant.
34:26 Speaker 07 So I said, "Well, if you come back, I'm not going to arrest you. But you've got to come straight in my office and answer questions. And if I'm not happy, well, I've still got the warrant."
34:37 Speaker 00 Tony has to borrow money for the flight. But he flies back to Australia and meets with Max right away. Max wants to know where all the money went.
34:46 Speaker 07 You know, the money was ultimately all lost.
34:49 Speaker 00 Those millions, Skyes squirreled out of Australia when he fled. They'd spent it all.
34:54 Speaker 07 You live life as a fugitive.
34:57 Speaker 07 And you've got to keep the Spanish authorities on side. You run out of money.
35:01 Speaker 00 Christopher Skase had died with pretty much nothing to his name. There was just one thing.
35:08 Speaker 07 Skase took out an insurance policy when he was solvent in the mid 80s for a million dollars. Pixie was the beneficiary. She got a million dollar life insurance policy. I took legal advice and there's nothing we could do about that.
35:23 Speaker 00 So Max lets Tony go and tears up the arrest warrant.
35:27 Speaker 07 He was disillusioned and I think he, I mean, he may not say this, but I think he worked out he'd been used.
35:36 Speaker 07 As had his wife, as had all the four girls.
35:40 Speaker 07 As had Pixie, to be honest.
35:43 Speaker 07 Although at least Pixie had the life insurance.
35:52 Speaker 00 For all their loyalty to Skase, Amanda and Tony Larkins end up with nothing and both decline to be interviewed for this podcast. One of the most intriguing things about this story is the loyalty people showed Skase. Pixie, his stepdaughters, even some of his former colleagues. It's clear those closest to Christopher loved him, adored him. They certainly stuck by him. Through all the charges, all the manipulations of finances, the proven dishonesty, they found a way not only to forgive Skase, but to defend him. They saw a side of Christopher we never could and they made allowances we never did.
36:38 Speaker 00 Pixie's youngest daughter Alex did message us some thoughtful comments about her mum and the man she called dad, Christopher Skase. They're the best indication of who Skase was to those who knew him best. So we wanted to share some of them with you.
36:54 Speaker 21 There's nothing I can say or do that will sway popular opinion about my dad. People made up their minds many years ago that he was a villain and nothing I could tell them about the good, kind, loving man that I knew would make the slightest dent in that.
37:12 Speaker 21 My dad was a philosophical man. Yes, really. He cared little for what people thought of him, understanding that their opinion was informed only by publicly available skewed information. My mum cared more and desperately wanted people to know they were not the terrible characters they were portrayed to be. She tried to address the problem, often against my own wishes, but sadly, it always seemed to backfire on her and she was left all the sadder for it. Let the lesson they taught me be one that I discussed with my dad on more than one occasion. You can't make people understand or like you.
37:54 Speaker 21 You can only make yourself more likeable and understandable.
38:03 Speaker 00 In 2003, the Australian Government formally ends its investigation into Skyes and his missing millions.
38:11 Speaker 01 The Attorney General at the time, Daryl Williams, called off the chase after more than $3 million of public money had been spent.
38:18 Speaker 00 But while Skyes himself is no longer, the debris of what he left behind remains. The banks and other major creditors got two cents back for every dollar they were owed. Most of the smaller creditors, mum and dad investors and employees who lost super, got nothing. Reckless lending to some of those 80s corporate cowboys, including Skyes, contributed to the collapse of the State Bank of Victoria and its subsidiary, Tricontinental. That's a pretty big deal. So, the government and corporate regulators learned some hard lessons from the school of Skyes. Regulations around lending and raising credit are tightened. A lot of legal loopholes are closed.
39:04 Speaker 00 And we can thank Skyes for a much tougher stance on bankruptcy. Today, bankrupts have strict rules about when and how they can travel overseas. They now have to use up to half of any future income to repay debts.
39:19 Speaker 22 If he'd have stayed in Turack or Brisbane and just copped it sweet, he mightn't have been so vilified. But the fact that he ran and hid, look, he was a lying dickhead in some ways, but, you know, we've lost our ability to forgive and forget sometimes.
39:43 Speaker 00 And Pixie, what became of the first lady of the chase for Skyes after she lost her leading man?
39:50 Speaker 01 Pixie Skyes wanted to return to Australia, but simmered over the way she felt Australia's government and media had treated her family.
39:57 Speaker 23 I would say that there's going to have to be a very fulsome apology before I would consider going back there.
40:05 Speaker 00 Despite never getting that apology, a few years after Christopher's death, Pixie tries to come back to Melbourne. And at first, the government refuses to return her citizenship. But finally, it relents, and Pixie comes home.
40:20 Speaker 12 She came back to Australia with no fanfare, almost kind of limping back. And she settled into a very demure life back in Melbourne.
40:31 Speaker 00 In 2010, Sue Smethurst conducts one final interview with Pixie. She visits Pixie in her small rented apartment in Turack.
40:40 Speaker 12 She certainly wasn't living the high life. She was living in a very austere, two-bedroom unit. And probably the only real trace, I guess, of that heady lifestyle were the pictures, the framed pictures that were around the place. And one beautiful antique armwire that she'd brought home with her.
40:58 Speaker 00 Pixie Skyes dies in November 2024. She was 83. It's a small end to what's been a very big life.
41:08 Speaker 12 And interestingly, she said to me at that time that she didn't miss Christopher at all. She'd moved on. It was an extraordinary chapter of her life, but she did not miss the circus.
41:20 Speaker 00 And what a circus it had been. Lavish resorts, legendary parties, a TV station, a footy club. But ultimately, a life lived in fear in a foreign land. Was it all worth it? What if Christopher Skyes had just hung around to face the music? Would he still be here to tell his side of the story?
41:53 Speaker 00 Skase: Fall of a Tycoon is a Rewind production for ABC Radio National. It's produced by Jake Morecambe, Sarah Allerley, Claudia Taranto and Kirsty Melville. The brilliant Emrese Cronin is our composer and sound engineer, and the ever patient Michelle Rayner is our editor. A big thank you to Michael Osman from ABC Archives and historian Quentin Beresford. Look out for his book about other Australian business scandals, Rogue Corporations. The series is made on the lands of the Gadigal, Darug and Naluma people. I'm Mark Humphries.
42:45 Speaker 24 You've been listening to an ABC Podcast. Discover more great ABC podcasts, live radio and exclusives on the ABC Listen app.
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