Loading

Court documents reveal the owners of the Kinkora Road property, Anne and Grant Brown, have been involved in a bitter and costly legal bid to collect the debt for the past 18 months.

Despite a debt settlement directive by Victoria Civil and Administrative Court in September 2020 and a subsequent enforcement order by the County Court in June last year, the Wilsons have yet to pay.

A lawyer acting for the owners, Michael Pianta, claimed in court documents that he took a series of steps to inform Ms Wilson of the bankruptcy proceedings.

“All reasonable steps have been taken to bring the creditor’s motion to the notice of Ms. Melinda Wilson,” Mr. Pianta said in an affidavit.

“These include engaging Network Process Service to personally serve the defendant, serving the documents on its previous and current legal representatives as well as serving the documents directly on the defendant by mail and electronic means.”

However, Ms Wilson repeatedly denied receiving the creditor’s petition, before later claiming in an affidavit that she had taken out a loan to repay the debt.

“The petition and prospect of filing for bankruptcy has caused me, my husband Anton (who is currently an undischarged bankrupt) and my family great distress,” Ms. Wilson said in a Feb. 11 affidavit.

The case will return to Federal Court later this month, while Mr Wilson is also expected to challenge the recent extension of his bankruptcy for another five years.

In 2018, age revealed that Mr Wilson had become a partner of a state government agency in a luxury ski resort project, despite being disqualified from running a company due to its bankruptcy.

Weeks after the story, the Mount Hotham Alpine Resort board announced that Mr. Wilson and his property company had been dumped from the $26 million redevelopment.

Mr. and Mrs. Wilson did not respond to repeated requests for comment.

The Morning Edition newsletter is our guide to the most important and interesting stories, analysis and ideas of the day. register here.