CHEK WHYTE THIRTY MILLION POUND DEBT

Thanks to the Salford Star for bringing this to light.



CHEK WHYTE THIRTY MILLION POUND DEBT
A Salford Star Exclusive
Star Date: 13th July 2009
`The only cheek Chek Whyte's turned is his backside to us and Salford.'
HELL FOR LOCAL BUILDERS AS SECRET MILLIONAIRE OWES THOUSANDS FROM SALFORD CHURCH PROJECT…
Chek Whyte rode into Salford in 2007 as the Secret Millionaire, promising good deeds, even `rescuing' the ailing £6million Emmanuel Church project in Langworthy last year. Now his various enterprises have `aggregate liabilities' of over £30million, and sub contractors who worked on the church are owed thousands of pounds which they fear they'll never see…

The man from PDW - the consultants overseeing the £6 million Langworthy Road church and community scheme - confirms that yes, Chek Whyte has been paid by the Church for building work on the scheme…that, yes, Chek Whyte has been paid public money from the £1,550,000 pot for the 22 affordable flats within the development…
When it comes to asking where all that money has gone, he's less committal. When asked about the morality of taking money from a church and public funds, and not paying people in full, he's totally non committal… "It's been a difficult project" he sighs.
The contractors who are owed thousands of pounds have no such qualms about Chek Whyte and his Building For God sign… "Turn the other cheek?" sneers one "The only cheek Chek Whyte's turned is his backside to us and Salford."
Over at the insolvency company, Begbies Traynor, Richard Saville is currently trying to work out Chek Whyte's total liabilities. He reels off what he knows…"Secured creditors around £26million, mainly banks…Trade and unsecured creditors, that's mainly sub-contractors, around £5million…Inland Revenue, anywhere between £1.25million and £2million. Let's just say upwards of £30million" he decides "We're working out the best way to get a return for the creditors and are trying to get an Individual Voluntary Agreement (IVA) where he offers to pay `x' in the pound to his creditors. If we don't get that agreement he'll be made bankrupt."
Which means no-one will see a cent.
Chek Whyte first arrived on national screens as `The Secret Millionaire' in November 2007, pretending to look for work in Salford while secretly looking to flash his cash at deserving community projects. Described by Channel 4 as `one of the richest men in England' he was seen, away from Salford, flaunting his wealth which included a yacht and a manor house where leather bound books were bought `by the yard' for decoration.
Soon after the programme aired, Chek Whyte bought two tower blocks in the area, Rosehill and Churchill Court. And in issue 8 of the Salford Star we revealed that the planning application for the towerblocks' conversion was sent to the council in the name of Chek Whyte Industries, for which the last filed accounts showed only £1 cash at bank and in hand. We also revealed that Chek Whyte wasn't a director of Chek Whyte Industries as he'd been banned by the courts for being "unfit".
Earlier this year, one of the towerblocks, now named Madison Court, was sold and is now in the hands of Wrightchoice Developments. Two weeks ago, Wrightchoice, a Salford based company, also took over the contract for the Emmanuel Church project in Langworthy, after originally working as sub contractors on the development, and say that the scheme will now be completed on time…
"The Church asked us to take over and we were very happy to help out" says the company's Paul Wright "But our contract is just from the date we took over and we don't know anything about paying people who are owed money by Chek Whyte."
The man from PDW would only say that "Chek Whyte offered us the opportunity to reassign the contract…his programme of work was changing and the completion made less sense to him. It was all approved and signed off."
But public money appears to have been handed to Chek Whyte, who hasn't paid his sub contractors and workers in full. Many are now facing even more hardship in the midst of a major building recession.
We spoke to Rev Ken Stokes, of Emmanuel Developments Ltd, who didn't want to comment on Chek Whyte's ethics, or anything else. This is the second time the project has been in potential jeopardy after the original contractors, Gleesons, left the site derelict following a row over costs. Some are asking why a publicly funded contract for the 22 flats didn't go out to formal tender again once Gleesons pulled out.
We tried to speak to someone from Great Places (formerly Manchester Methodist Housing) about how much money from its £1.5million Housing Corporation (now HCA) grant for the flats was paid to Chek Whyte, and the morality of him leaving sub contractors probably high and dry. But no-one got back to us. We asked Salford City Council for a comment about Chek Whyte but no-one got back to us. We asked the Homes and Communities Agency (HCA) for a comment but they put us on to Great Places. And we spoke to Chek Whyte's office who threatened to sue us if we quoted anything other than "People will be paid"…
They didn't say how much though…
"I couldn't believe the way people treated me in Salford and I'll never forget it" sighed Chek Whyte during a Secret Millionaire press interview. We don't think those who stand to lose money from his Salford venture will ever forget the way they have been treated by him either…
* A meeting will take place on August 17th with Chek Whyte's creditors to decide what to do next…