Death of Skase won't end cash hunt

By GREG ANSLEY

CANBERRA - Fugitive businessman Christopher Skase will be pursued beyond the grave by his creditors and the Australian Government.

Skase, aged 53, has died in his multimillion-dollar Majorcan hideaway after a 10-year battle against deportation.

Australian wanted him home to face 60 criminal charges springing from the collapse of the $A1.5 billion ($1.85 billion) Quintex empire and the alleged flight of at least $10 million of creditors' funds.

Skase was reported yesterday to have died at his home with his wife Pixie at his side. His doctor confirmed that he died of cancer.

Skase was admitted to hospital on Majorca on July 11 for chemotherapy.

He was suffering from stomach cancer and an inoperable lung tumour, doctors said.

As his embittered family condemned the chase from beside his deathbed, Australian officials offered the briefest of condolences before warning that the hunt for the Skase millions would continue.

"I think the Government has handled [the pursuit of Skase] in the most appropriate manner," Justice Minister Chris Ellison said.

"I believe that there is nothing than can be said against what the Government has done."

He said Canberra remained committed to recovering $177 million sought by creditors' trustee Max Donnelly, who will continue efforts to freeze Skase funds in several countries.

A warrant for the arrest of Skase's son-in-law and corporate frontman, Anthony Larkin, also remains in force following his failure to return to Australia for a Federal Court hearing in February.

So far the Government has spent almost $3 million trying to recover the missing funds and to extradite Skase.

Prime Minister John Howard said there was a legitimate public interest in continuing the pursuit of the money.

Opposition Leader Kim Beazley indicated Labour would not abandon the chase if it won office.

Skase was the last of the corporate cowboys of the 1980s, rising from financial reporter to a mogul controlling the Channel Seven television network and the Mirage chain of luxury resorts before crashing to earth after a failed bid for Hollywood's MGM United Artists.

Unlike such contemporaries as Alan Bond, Skase escaped justice by claiming bankruptcy and fleeing to Majorca, after allegedly funnelling out millions of dollars using family members and a complex maze of money trails.

Although he claimed to be living in penury in a dilapidated farmhouse, Skase and wife Pixie, a former Melbourne socialite, set up home in a mansion and lived a life of luxury and prosperity that included a series of multimillion-dollar deals.

Each time Australian officials closed in, Skase claimed failing health, suddenly abandoning brisk walks and cafe society to appear wheelchair-bound in court, using breathing apparatus because of claimed emphysema.

He refused repeated offers of examination by Australian specialists, specially equipped flights back home and treatment in Australia.

When his final appeal was lost, few believed new claims that he had been diagnosed with the cancer that eventually killed him.

Skase, however, was reconciled with death. "I've made my peace with God," he told New Idea in his final interview in March.