Twist in Sultan will hearing

Integrity Commission chief among case withdrawals

THE high-profile battle over the will of late property mogul Ali Sultan has begun to play out in the Supreme Court.

However, a number of disputes that plagued pre-trial proceedings have now been resolved – with all nine defendants no longer parties to the stoush.

Integrity Commission chief commissioner Aziz Gregory Melick, lawyer Damian Egan and Sultan Holdings accountant Mark Saltzman have now renounced their involvement as executors of Ali Sultan’s will, with his son Moe Sultan now withdrawing his claims against them.

With the trio now rescinding their involvement with the will, Mr Sultan has withdrawn allegations against them, including that they had invalidly appointed themselves directors of Sultan Holdings, that they were “unfit to be granted probate” of Mr Sultan’s will and that money from the estate had been misused.

The trio had previously denied these claims.

Lawyer Ian Creese and Sultan Holdings project development manager Timothy Lucas previously rescinded their involvement with Mr Sultan’s 2020 will, and were no longer parties to the dispute.

Moe Sultan’s younger brother Saleh has now agreed with his older brother’s contention that their father’s last true will was made in July 2018, along with other former defendants Mezed Eid and Mohamad Eid, and Rola TaychouriSmith, who claims she was Ali Sultan’s de facto partner at the time of his death.

That group of defendants had not been accused of wrongdoing by Moe Sultan.

Justice Michael Brett said Moe Sultan’s key contention – that his father’s last true will was made in July 2018, and not four further wills made until Ali Sultan’s death in January 2021 – still needed to be proved in court.

Mr Sultan claims wills made in November 2018, November 2019 and December 2020 were invalid – that they did not represent his father’s intentions, and were not valid wills “as he did not know and approve his contents” when he executed them.

He has argued his father had limited English skills, particularly in comprehension of written documents, and that newer versions of the will did not reflect his intentions.

Mr Sultan’s barrister Raoul Wilson SC said Ali Sultan (inset) died aged 73 in January 2021, suffering a heart attack while walking on kunanyi / Mt Wellington.

He said the prominent businessman left behind a “very large estate – many tens of millions of dollars”.

Mr Wilson said the exact size of Mr Sultan’s estate was unknown, but that his various trusts and companies owned the Hobart Airport Travelodge, petrol station and parking, the Vodafone building in the centre of the city, Sultan Parking and several residential properties.

He said Mr Sultan was born in Tripoli, Lebanon, coming to Australia in 1969 but never gaining literacy in English.

“One of the remarkable features of this case is that the deceased, while having an enormous acumen in business, was essentially illiterate,” Mr Wilson said.

The barrister said Mezed and Mohamed Eid, who ran a cafe in the Wellington Centre, said Mr Sultan would have his coffee there every morning.

They said Mr Sultan would ask them to explain stories he’d been interested in from the newspaper, and they noticed he signed contracts without reading them himself, relying on others to do so.

Mr Wilson also said a newer version of Mr Sultan’s will had been “summarised” to him by a lawyer.

The hearing continues on Wednesday.