Among the biggest creditors is the Australian Tax Office.

However, an equally substantial sum is owed to one of the key investors in the Meu Jardim venture, millionaire wellness entrepreneur Tony De Leede, a well-connected and prominent figure in the fitness industry over four decades and best known for bringing the Fitness First chain to Australia.

De Leede was reluctant to say how much money he was owed when PS called, but close sources estimated it to be at least one million dollars.

“He was a very slick operator. He and his partner appeared to be a hard-working young couple. He told us about his plans for Meu Jardim. By that stage, my wife and I had become friendly with them after going to the Upper East Side Bondi venue. We watched them work hard, they appeared to be absolutely genuine in their commitment ... so it seemed like a good idea to invest,” De Leede said.

“I am not sure what my next step is ... I could bankrupt him, that’s something I am mulling over.”

Upper East Side Bondi ultimately failed, with the Fair Work Ombudsman winning penalties over staff underpayment in the Federal Court of $22,050 against the operating company and $4410 against Gelonese.

‘I could bankrupt him, that’s something I am mulling over.’

Tony de Leede, on his potential next move against Ussi Moniz Da Silva

At around the same time, Da Silva was dropping a reported $4million on a lavish fit-out for his city venue Meu Jardim, which opened in February 2020, just weeks before the pandemic hit. It featured a waterfall, a fire pit, French food and a 3am licence.

“We’ve got 300 metres of coloured LED lights. You ring a doorbell, there is a waterfall and an oyster shucking station as you walk in,” he boasted to Good Food.

Da Silva has not been seen since the Liquor and Gaming Authority issued a temporary closure notice for Eros in Kings Cross on February 3, after police received information that members of an outlaw motorcycle gang were plotting to commit an act of retribution at the bar.

Neither Da Silva nor Genolese was responding to calls this week.

NEIGHBOUR CLASH BEHIND GRAND DESIGNS EPISODE

Sometime later this year, Australia’s top voice-over artist and media personality Nick Bennett’s Blue Mountains home build is expected to appear on the ABC’s rebooted Grand Designs Australia.

However, it remains to be seen just much of the real-life drama that has neighbours fuming in the leafy Glenbrook enclave will make it to air.

When asked about neighbour relations Bennett, whose voice has been heard on everything from Australia’s Next Top Model to The Great Australian Spelling Bee, told PS: “It’s fine, we are managing as best we can. We respect our neighbours, always have done. It’s never easy living next to a building site, I have done it a couple of times myself. It tends to push people’s buttons.”

Bennett declined to say any more, referring PS to the ABC publicity department; however, he denied claims about safety issues and workers falling off his roof, thick silica dust from his site blowing into neighbouring properties, noisy after-hours equipment deliveries and ugly scenes over the backyard fence with neighbours on New Year’s Day when Bennett was using an angle grinder.

PS has also seen a stream of text and emails, including legal threats, over issues from Bennett’s work site.

Along with local police, Police Rescue, the fire brigade, Safe Work Australia and Blue Mountains City Council have all been notified by neighbours concerned about the build.

But Bennett said police had only been to his property after he reported one of his front windows being smashed on New Year’s Eve, hours before the alleged angle grinding incident. He believed the broken window was deliberate and asked police to investigate.

WILL KYLE LEARN HIS LESSON?

Along with his second new censor appointed earlier this week, exactly what will KIIS FM motormouth Kyle Sandilands’ “sensitivity training” entail?

His bosses at radio group ARN declined to provide PS with any further details on what is being planned for their $5 million-a-year star voice.

ARN has made court-enforceable undertakings with the watchdog Australian Communications and Media Authority following Sandilands’ controversial comments in September 2021 about the Tokyo Paralympics, which he described as “horrific”.

“Comments like those broadcast on this program have no place in our society, never mind on a commercial radio program,” said ACMA Chair Nerida O’Loughlin.

“Mocking participants in an event that celebrates equality and showcases the highest levels of human endeavour is beyond any reasonable measure of decency.”

Within the next three months, ARN’s legal department must deliver a compliance training session to Sandilands and his entire team - including Jackie “O” Henderson - on sensitivity towards others, including those with disabilities and their differences. A copy of the training session must also be provided to ACMA.

But will it be a whiteboard session in the KIIS FM tearoom? An online Q and A Sandilands completes from his sofa? Perhaps some kind of multiple-choice test?

Sandilands sounds like he might be a hard learner, too. Far from offering a mea culpa on air, as news of ACMA’s findings came out, he huffed to his listeners: “Yeah, I’m in there [the news]. Some sort of bullshit in there about something I didn’t even know about. Still don’t know about. One day, I’ll find out.”

Maybe he could seek counsel from a couple of actual Paralympians? Dylan Alcott or Louise Sauvage might be gracious enough to take him out for a few training sessions. Couldn’t hurt.

JAPANESE TRAINERS ON THE DANCE FLOOR

Keep an eye out for the sartorial elegance of Yoshito and Hisako Yahagi at Royal Randwick during the Championships carnival.

They won’t be hard to spot, one of the most famous thoroughbred trainers in Japan, Yoshito is renowned for his very sharp fedoras, while Hisako graces the track wearing one of her many elegant Kimonos.

On Tuesday night they were among the guests of honour at the ATC’s Championships Night Of Stars swanky dinner at Flying Fish in Pyrmont.

Looking the picture of restrained elegance and refinement that all changed when Samantha Jade started belting out a few Motown bangers.

The Yahagis were soon “cutting shapes” in the mosh pit. Hisako was burning the rug in her traditional wooden Geta timber thongs with the best of them.

DOUG MULRAY’S FINAL SIGN OFF

He’d been in and out of hospital for months, but only hours before radio legend Doug Mulray died, his family and friends were still hoping for a recovery, of sorts.

Long-time friend and manager Hamish Cameron was at Mulray’s bedside, along with Mulray’s beloved partner Liz Muir, as he slipped away.

On Thursday, Cameron told PS: “It is an ongoing situation, but he is dealing with it.”

But things changed quickly. On Friday Cameron told PS Mulray had “suddenly deterioated” after we spoke.

“We were all hoping for a recovery but it was not to be,” he said.

Mulray’s loyal band of friends have remained fiercely protective of the notoriously private Mulray in his final days. But Mulray’s health has been an issue for years. Over thirty years ago, when he appeared on 60 Minutes in 1989, he told Jennifer Byrne about “enzymes” being found in his liver which had worried his doctors.

A lover of fine wines and vodka, he gave up alcohol years ago.

Sadly, as the tributes started flowing on Friday morning, Mulray was not around to hear just how much he was admired and loved, not only within the industry, but among the many listeners who still remember him, even decades after he quit radio and virtually disappeared from the public eye. The King is indeed dead.

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