Former business partner of John Ibrahim, Mim Salvato faces jail after being found in contempt of Sup

THE former business partner of John Ibrahim, Mim Salvato is facing jail after he was found in contempt of the Supreme Court, in a stoush over his eviction from his Vaucluse mansion.

Mr Salvato, who runs The Bank nightclub in Kings Cross, has been branded as "incapable of telling the truth" by a Supreme Court judge in a decision handed down today.

He was found to have breached a court order made in December to vacate the home and give the keys to the Commonwealth Bank after he defaulted on his $1.75 million mortgage.

He is facing a potential jail term. His fate will be determined at a separate court hearing on April 17.

Mr Salvato was John Ibrahim's business partner for a decade until they went their separate ways a few months ago.

Justice Peter Garling found that Mr Salvato was "incapable of telling the truth where he thought a truthful answer would not suit his case".

"I have concluded that I do not accept his evidence unless it is independently corroborated, or else is contrary to his interests," Justice Garling found.

"He was often rambling, combative and by his demeanour, unconvincing".

Mr Salvato swore he had handed over a single key to his house to his Double Bay lawyer Robert Shacklady on December 21 last year, telling Mr Shacklady to give the key to the Bank or one of its representatives.

But Justice Garling found this was not true.

"Mr Salvato did not have a key on 21 December" and "he could not have handed it over to Mr Shacklady on that day with instructions to give it to a representative of the Bank", Justice Garling found.

Justice Garling found Mr Salvato was the "sole registered proprietor" of the Hopetoun Avenue home which he agreed to vacate in December.

However his glamorous socialite wife Victoria and their two children continued to live at the home after the date Mr Salvato agreed to hand it back to the bank.

Mr Salvato did not tell his wife that he had been evicted, or that he was fighting the Commonwealth Bank in court over the failure to pay the mortgage.

Justice Garling dismissed Mr Salvato’s request that he "set aside" Mr Salvato’s legal undertaking to vacate the property on the grounds that it was "ineffective" because it did not specifically order his wife to also leave the property.

The court was told that Mr Salvato arranged to sell his home to Bryon Bay developer Bart Elias, in a last ditch attempt to save the home from foreclosure last year.

The pending sale kept the bank at bay for a few more weeks last year.

Salvato is a former high school physical education teacher turned Kings Cross nightclub owner.

In his evidence to the court, he said he moved out of the home in December but visits the house whenever he wants to, using a hidden spare key.

He said he looks after his children at the house, he watches TV, or sleeps for four or five hours or helps himself to food from the fridge.

He also told the court he sleeps about one night a week at The Bank on Darlinghurst Road, or at a nearby hotel or at houses owned by his eastern suburbs friends.
 

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