The bitter legal dispute within one of the state’s wealthiest families centred around the estate of Florence Gemenis Polites, who passed away in March 2024 at the age of 102, has exacerbated.
The case, which involves her multimillion-dollar estate and a 1999 will, was escalated following claims that an investigation into her assets could expose confidential company files.
Markas Salkanovic, 54, a convicted attempted drug importer, is embroiled in a Supreme Court battle over his late grandmother’s estate. However, his uncle, 70-year-old George Constantine Polites, the estate’s executor, has appealed a court ruling to appoint an administrator, Sarah Hooper, to investigate the estate.
Dick Whitington, KC, representing Polites, voiced concerns about the potential leak of confidential information. He warned that granting Hooper access to company files detailing assets and finances across multiple trusts could result in sensitive data being shared with third parties, including Polites’ twin grandsons—Con Junior (Alex) and Marcus, 40.
Whitington further argued that such an investigation would be “time consuming” and would likely lead to the disclosure of files to “any interested persons.”
While Whitington denied claims that his client was “deficient” as executor, the court was told that the grandsons had signalled a challenge to the will before recent changes in state law, though no formal claim has been made yet.
On the other side, Graham Edmonds-Wilson, KC, for Salkanovic, dismissed concerns over file access as “overblown” and argued there was no valid reason to block the investigation.
Justice Tim Stanley reserved his decision, and a Court of Appeal hearing is scheduled for later this year.
Source: The Advertiser.
