Tycoon in £750m fraud case 'a bully', court told

A PROPERTY tycoon accused of conning banks into lending him £750 million is a short-tempered bully who boasted he was a multimillionaire with a family trust fund, one of his former employees told a London court today.

Achilleas Kallakis enjoyed stays at the five-star Dorchester hotel in London and celebrated his 40th birthday with a three-day party at his villa on the Greek island of Mykonos, jurors were told.

Southwark Crown Court heard Mr Kallakis (43) was so convincing he was able to secure loans to buy “first-class premises” in Monaco and Greece, and even accompanied Prince Albert of Monaco on a diplomatic mission to the Far East. At one stage Mr Kallakis was ambassador of the state of San Marino. He had even earmarked a building in Athens to be the San Marino embassy, the court heard.

The 43-year-old, who is on trial with his “right-hand man” Alex Williams who he met at university, continued to live a life of luxury until the businesses which he ran out a swanky Mayfair office collapsed, it was said.

His former executive assistant at Atlas Management Corporation, Nigel Dransfield, told the court he was left to deal with calls from angry clients including staff who organised Mr Kallakis’s three-day birthday party for 200 guests and builders who were renovating his properties.

Asked by junior prosecutor Annabel Darlow how he would describe his boss, he said: “I personally felt that he was a bully. He didn’t treat his workforce particularly well. That was my view of him. He was very short tempered.”

Earlier the former army colonel, told the court he had often seen Mr Kallakis shredding documents in the office which the prosecution allege was a bid to cover up his scam. George Carter-Stephenson QC, defending Mr Kallakis, said it was common practice in offices to shred documents and said his client was often in receipt of diplomatic documents which were confidential.

He said: “He was in receipt of diplomatic documents because he was ambassador of the state of San Marino. He was at one stage ambassador to Brunei for the state of San Marino and at one stage he was involved in discussions for being ambassador for Greece for the state of San Marino.”

Jurors heard Mr Kallakis ordered staff to not put his name on any invoices related to the company in case they led back to him. Mr Dransfield told the court: “On one occasion I was told to take a hotel bill back for a Dorchester suite and have Mr Kallakis’s name removed from it.”

Corporate barrister Julian Henley-Price, who was employed by Mr Kallakis from May 2007 until early 2009, said he knew Mr Kallakis had “a chauffeur-driven Bentley and his own plane” and said he was “ultimately in charge”, despite Mr Kallakis’s claims he had nothing to do with Atlas Management. Another former employee Paul Harden, who worked as a solicitor for the firm, told the court it was Mr Kallakis who gave the orders. He said: “[He was] autocratic. He gave instructions and expected them to be obeyed.”

Mr Kallakis and Mr Williams bought 16 landmark properties on the back of the cash sourced mainly by AIB. When the business based on forgeries went bust, the bank lost £56 million.

Both deny two counts of conspiracy to defraud, 13 counts of forgery, five counts of fraud by false representation, two counts of money laundering and one count of obtaining a money transfer by deception. The trial continues.