Minister still holds stake in hotel
SMALL Business Minister Craig Laundy’s claim he sold his stake in a seedy Sydney pub more than a decade ago is under a cloud after documents emerged showing he personally signed off on a lease years later.
Mr Laundy signed off on the 2012 lease of the Yagoona Tavern , which boasts of its bikini waitresses, despite saying earlier this year he had offloaded his share of the pub in 2005. Mr Laundy has not disclosed the personal stake in the pub, majority owned by his family’s company Laundy (Exhibition) Pty Ltd, on the Parliament interest register.
In May, he claimed it was due to an “oversight” that property records still showed he owned about 30 per cent of the pub.
But News Corp can reveal Mr Laundy signed the lease — dated July 2, 2012 — which also listed him personally as a party alongside Laundy (Exhibition).
The 25-year deal leased the pub to another Laundy family company.
Mr Laundy, who represents the marginal electorate of Reid in Sydney’s west, was a director of the Laundy Hotel Group until 2013 when he was elected to Parliament.
Despite telling News Corp in May that he had sold his share of the pub to a family member in 2005, the land title has still not been updated and continues to show Mr Laundy holds a stake in the tavern.
When asked how the 2012 lease document was signed by Mr Laundy, contradicting his claim the stake had been sold in 2005, a spokesman for Mr Laundy said the tavern had been transferred “to his father’s company Laundy (Exhibition) Pty Ltd many years before becoming an MP”.
“The solicitor instructed at the time to complete and register the transfer failed to complete this task … this is now being rectified,” he said.