How Bandido bikie boss Toby Mitchell turned debt collector in a $130,000 dispute

Bandido bikie Mitchell and another burly man identified as "Slim" Walker attended a formal meeting of those owed money after the collapse of property development firm Rivacourt Pty Ltd.

Mitchell and Walker were seen wearing Bandidos colours.

Police have been told that during the creditors' meeting, Mitchell allegedly produced a dossier containing what appeared to be photographs of the home of Rivacourt's director, a millionaire fund manager from Brighton.

Corporate documents show the director was at the meeting, held as part of the company's formal voluntary administration process.

The muscular and heavily tattooed Mitchell, a feared underworld figure and Bandido sergeant at arms who has survived two attempts on his life, was allegedly seen flicking through photographs of the director's home as the meeting unfolded.

A third, unidentified man was seen in the building's foyer.

Mitchell and Walker formally acknowledged their attendance at the meeting, signing the official register in their own names and describing themselves as "observers".

The register has been lodged with the Australian Securities and Investments Commission.

Police have been told the bikie arrived at the meeting with a real estate agent from a successful suburban real estate franchise.

A tribunal had previously ruled that Rivacourt owed that agent $130,000 in commissions, according to ASIC records.

Records of the meeting, which took place on March 19 at the St Kilda Rd offices of administrators Bent & Cougle, reveal the agent demanded that money back.

 

 

"(The agent) asked the director when he was going to pay the money he was owed," the ASIC files reveal.

Administrators found Rivacourt to be $1.9 million in debt, according to ASIC.

Police received a complaint after the meeting and the anti-bikie Taskforce Echo opened an investigation.

Victoria Police said in a statement: "Police are aware of the matter and are conducting inquiries."

Administrator Hamish MacKinnon, of Bent & Cougle, declined to comment. The company director did not return calls.

The agent would not say why he had brought Mitchell to the creditors' meeting.

He said: "I'd be very careful what I write if I were you."

He would not say how he had come to have contact with Mitchell and said the dispute with the company director had been resolved.

"There is no criminal act and there was no standover at all," he said.

Bikies are increasingly becoming involved in standover bids, expanding their debt-collecting activities in the property and construction industries.