Christopher Skase

Christopher Charles Skase (September 18, 1948 - August 5, 2001) was a noted Australian businessman who later became one of its most wanted fugitives, after his business empire crashed spectacularly and he fled to Majorca in Spain.

Skase was born into a wealthy Melbourne family, and was educated at Malvern and Caulfield Grammar Schools. He began his career as a stockbroker, but soon became a finance journalist instead, working at the Melbourne Sun. In 1975, he changed careers again, purchasing a small Tasmanian company by the name of Qintex.

Skase slowly developed Qintex, and over several years, turned it into one of Australia's larger corporations. By the late 1980s, the Qintex group was worth AU$1.5 billion, and Skase owned five resorts, the Seven Network television station, and the Brisbane Bears Australian Football League club (now the Brisbane Lions). His two resorts in Port Douglas were among the largest in the country, and Skase played a key role in putting the formerly small town on the international tourist map.

Skase became known for his displays of wealth, with a massive fortieth birthday party in 1988, and a company Christmas party that cost $450,000. In one particular incident, he had his private jet fly from Port Douglas to Melbourne to pick up a dress for his wife, Pixie Skase.

By 1989, things began to go wrong. Interest rates had risen, and an attempt to buy the MGM film studios fell through when Rupert Murdoch forced the price up. Skase was forced to sell half of his resorts to Japanese investors. In the months that followed, it became clear that Skase and the Qintex group had overextended themselves.

According to a 1998 report by the ABC program Four Corners, Skase had begun obtaining and moving money into foreign bank accounts in July 1989. Despite efforts lasting more than a decade, Max Donnelly, the creditors' trustee, was unable to trace much of the missing money.

At a meeting in October, Skase began to fall out with the Qintex board. He demanded that the board pay $13.5 million to a private company that he owned. The board refused to ratify the payment, but soon discovered that the payment had already been made. Skase then demanded the board give him a pay rise, and threatened to resign if he did not receive it. The board refused, with several members themselves threatening to resign.

One of the directors reported the incident to the Australian Securities Commission. The creditors moved in, and Qintex collapsed. Skase was forced to sell the Seven Network for a tiny portion of what he had paid for it. In the end, Skase was more than $700 million in debt. He began to parcel up his remaining wealth, including more than $900,000 worth of antiques and furniture.

He was charged with improperly using his position to obtain management fees, briefly arrested and spent a night in jail. However, he was subsequently released and allowed to regain his passport. On achieving this, he promptly fled to the Spanish island of Majorca. In 1994, the Australian Securities Commission assembled a case against Skase, with the assistance of former Skase associate Lawrence Van der Plaat, and began to chase him in earnest.

Throughout the 1990s, successive Australian governments, in combination with Max Donnelly, attempted to have Skase extradited from Spain, with no success. Skase claimed that he was unable to travel due to a life-threatening lung condition. This was disputed by the Australian government, who released a video filmed by some Australian tourists, which featured Skase walking easily on a local beach. During this period, Skase also attempted to build a new business empire, and continued to live in a multi-million dollar mansion.

In one incident, television personality Andrew Denton organised a public subscription to hire a bounty hunter to kidnap Skase. However, the idea had to be called off when it became apparent it would compromise any trial.

In May, 1998, the Australian government cancelled Skase's passport. Skase was ordered to leave Majorca by 23 July, but lodged an appeal. The extradition process was still tied up in the courts when, the following month, he became a citizen of Dominica. At this point, numerous commentators suggested that the chase was over, and that there was nothing more that could be done to bring Skase back to Australia.

By 2001, both the Australian government and Donnelly were starting to grow weary of the large costs of continuing the "chase for Skase". However, there was renewed speculation that January that Skase may be deported from Spain - in which case he may have been able to be brought back to Australia, due to Dominica's extradition treaty. However, he became ill and passed away in Majorca on August 5, before any further proceedings had taken place.

A satirical 2001 film, Let's Get Skase is based around about an invented plot to kidnap Christopher Skase in Majorca..