Interpol, $3m loan & doubting Thomas
ANDREW Batties has lost almost everything.
His family, his friends, his money, his reputation … and his trust.
Over the past 12 months the 52-year-old, who runs independent record label Popmuzik, has watched his life unravel after he paid a large deposit for a loan which never eventuated.
Queensland Police have confirmed they are looking into the activities of the man who guaranteed the loan and is yet to repay the funds.
While he admits to guaranteeing the loan, Peter Rowan Thomas says he has not engaged in any wrongdoing and he too is the victim of circumstance.
“My company engaged in a business transaction which involved a loan,” Mr Thomas said in a letter to the Gold Coast Bulletin.
“I personally guaranteed the loan. The proceeds of the loan were transmitted to another party as part of another proposed transaction ...
“Due to Covid-19 restrictions, the anticipated transactions have been delayed.”
Mr Batties says he is not the only person who has had unfortunate dealings with Mr Thomas.
Mr Batties says he hopes that by coming forward he might be able to spare others from falling victim to the same business practices.
Mr Batties says that Mr Thomas presented himself as the owner of the Brighton Grand luxury apartments in Southport. This has also been the experience of at least one other tenant in the building who spoke with the Bulletin.
The 28-title French provincial-style project, with views across parkland and the Nerang River to the Surfers Paradise skyline, was completed in 2014 by owner and Melbourne obstetrician Sol Sahhar.
The Bulletin reported in 2019 that with only three apartments sold, Dr Sahhar opted to rent the opulent units.
However, Mr Thomas says that in mid-2018, through his Hong Kongbased company Sontell Group, he entered into a purchase agreement with Dr Sahhar to buy the remaining 25 units at Brighton Grand but that the terms of contract, including whether any payments or rent has been paid, are confidential. Mr Thomas says he is not the owner.
Mr Batties says he understands that Mr Thomas was allowed to move into a ground-floor apartment but soon after moved to the penthouse.
Dr Sahhar has confirmed that Mr Thomas entered an agreement to purchase all available units at Brighton Grand but that no money has been paid yet.
Dr Sahhar confirmed that Mr Thomas has also not paid any rent since moving in. However, he says he is hopeful it will still be paid.
“Only time will confirm the truth,” he said.
Mr Batties says he has tried repeatedly to encourage Dr Sahhar to take action, including holding a meeting to present evidence from himself, a real estate agent and a high-profile Australian sportsman who has also had dealings with Mr Thomas.
When contacted by the Bulletin, Mr Thomas confirmed Mr Batties had deposited US$90,000 in September 2020 in order to secure a $3m loan, which was to be released within 30 days.
Mr Thomas says no payments have been made and confirmed he was in breach of contract. However, Mr Thomas says it is not a scam, but that he has been unable to secure transferral of funds from China.
Mr Batties says the loan issue was just one of a number of concerns he had in his dealings with Mr Thomas.
Mr Batties says from the day he, his partner and their son applied to rent a unit at Brighton Grand, nothing was normal.
“From the start it was strange … before we could move in we had to supply so much more financial information than seemed normal. But I thought maybe that’s just how it’s done on the Gold Coast,” Mr Batties says.
“I didn’t think too much about it.
“The next thing we had to do was have a meeting with the owner before our application was approved, which again was different than anything we’d experienced in Melbourne.
“We went to the meeting and Peter Thomas came in and introduced himself as the owner … and said he likes to know who will be living there.”
Title searches show that Brighton Grand is owned by company entities Brighton Grand Prop Ltd and Chatham Lodge Prop Ltd, of which Dr Sahhar is the sole director of each.
Mr Batties says once he moved into Brighton Grand, Mr Thomas began visiting his apartment regularly.
Mr Batties says Mr Thomas regularly referred to their financial situation.
Mr Batties broke his neck in a workplace accident in 2013 and was paid out all of his superannuation as well as compensation.
Mr Batties and his partner invested that money into four apartments on the Gold Coast but lost all of their tenants when Covid hit.
They subsequently sold two of the properties and Mr Batties says Mr Thomas offered to help with investing the money.
“Peter kept saying to us that he’d really like to help us. That we seemed like really nice people and he felt bad that we’d had a bit of bad luck from Covid,” Mr Batties says.
“He told us that he’d been working with the Chinese government through Interpol and had retrieved billions of dollars of lost Chinese bonds.
“He showed us what looked like evidence and said he wanted to lend us money – $3m over three years and we’d pay 1 per cent interest.
“We kept saying ‘no, thank you’. But he kept com
ing back. He asked us to draw up a prospectus of what we’d use $3m to invest in and it all looked legitimate.
“You know, this was the man who was introduced as the owner of these beautiful towers, he’s in his 70s, it all seems to add up.
“We put together our prospectus. We had the offer and contract checked and it all looked fine.
“We had to pay our three years of 1 per cent interest up front – US$90,000 – as the sort of deposit for the loan, and the $3m would be deposited into our account within 30 days, which we would then invest.
“It was all done under the auspices of the Sontell company which Peter owns. We signed the contract and deposited the money into the ANZ in Bacchus Marsh in Victoria, where his accountants are.
“But the 30 days passed … and no money.”
Mr Thomas says he has never been a member of Interpol but a number of tenants at Brighton Grand told the Bulletin he has made other references to Interpol in their dealings with him, including flashing what purports to be an Interpol badge.
Mr Thomas says the badge is from his involvement with the Bulgaria-based International Association against Drug Trafficking and Drug Abuse and he uses it as a form of personal identification. Mr Thomas says he is still working to get the money he owes to Mr Batties.
However, Mr Batties says in the year since that contract was signed, he has heard constant variations of the “the cheque is in the mail”, but he is yet to see a cent – not of the money that was to be loaned, nor the money he’d paid as interest.
Mr Batties says for the first few months he didn’t doubt the reasons given by Mr Thomas.
“We found a block of land that we wanted to develop using the loan but thank goodness we didn’t pay a deposit,” Mr Batties says.
“But we were told so many believable reasons of why the money hadn’t come through yet, and we were assured so often that it was on its way, and we were encouraged to spend like it was there … it just seemed so brazen that it must be true.
“Every time I purchased or borrowed something, I checked with Mr Thomas and was told every week by him that the money would be here any day.
“On one occasion (one of Mr Thomas’s relatives) even approached me in the carpark and said that we are all going to have a great Christmas with all of this money arriving – but nothing ever arrived.
“I have recording artists suing me because I’m not promoting their music, I had to sell our car, I sold our furniture, our jewellery, I can’t finish my son’s braces payments, I haven’t been able to pay the school fees … it’s the most horrible thing that’s ever happened in my life.
“It all seems obvious in hindsight, but I also know I’m not the only one.”
Mr Batties says Dr Sahhar, the true owner of Brighton Grand, has also had unfortunate dealings with Mr Thomas.
“We met with Dr Sahhar, along with a real estate agent and another tenant of the building who is a high-profile sportsman and who was also targeted by Mr Thomas, and we spelled out what has been happening.
“He was just in disbelief. He’d start to take it in but then just couldn’t.
“We want to help him see the truth but I think it’s too hard for him to accept. He still believes that the money is coming.”
But, according to another Gold Coast real estate agent, that’s never going to happen.
The agent, who sold a Gold Coast home in the Hinterland which was another target of Mr Thomas, says he is well aware of the man’s reputation.
“When I was conducting an open home, Mr Thomas came in and said he was the previous owner of the property,” says the agent.
“But when I looked at the sales reports, it never mentioned his name or any company names – they were all individuals and none of them were him.”
Mr Thomas says he was never the owner of the home.
However, after the Bulletin cited a letter from the home’s previous owner which states that Mr Thomas purchased the home through Sontell in 2010, he changed his answer.
“If that’s what it says in the letter, then that’s what happened,” he said.
When it was pointed out that no record of this sale or transaction exists from Queensland Land Titles Office, Mr Thomas said “it just must not show on your records”.
An internet search also showed more evidence of unusual activity conducted by Mr Thomas.
On the website just answer.co.uk, where legal questions can be submitted, a person wrote two years ago that he had been lured into an agreement with Peter Rowan Thomas, only to subsequently lose a substantial amount of money. Mr Thomas had no comment regarding this claim.
Mr Batties says he is also launching a civil suit against Mr Thomas but he ultimately wants to see justice served. Although Mr Batties says more than anything, he simply wants to prevent anyone being lured into a business deal with Mr Thomas.