'Secret Millionaire' Chek Whyte Bust!

SECRET millionaire Chek Whyte has left businesses in the city high and dry after admitting he is £32m in debt.

The property developer, who appeared on the reality show in 2007, is negotiating with insolvency experts to find a way out of his financial problems.

Whyte is hoping to sell off his assets to pay off the debt but has insisted that Salford businesses will get paid.

He also told the Advertiser that the reason he was blacklisted as a company director was his dyslexia, saying: "Paperwork has never been my strong point."

The entrepreneur had been working with contractors on a £6m redevelopment of the Emmanuel Church in Langworthy but has not been able to pay them.

The Secret Millionaire star will head to Tanzania to volunteer in a leper colony where, ironically, the man who made his name developing ambitious properties will be helping to construct mud huts.

Whyte, who was banned from being a company director in 1999, owes £25m to Yorkshire Bank, the largest creditor, Allied Irish Bank, Bank of Ireland and Royal Bank of Scotland, all of which is secured.

He owes a further £1.2m to HM Revenue & Customs.

Unsecured trade creditors are owed about £4.98m.

But insolvency practitioners Begbies Traynor are exploring whether all his creditors will agree to what is called an individual voluntary arrangement (IVA), an agreement which will allow them to be paid over a period of time.

If creditors agree, his businesses will be run by him but supervised by Begbies Traynor with any profits paid to creditors.

Mr Whyte developed his businesses as a sole trader through a series of unincorporated businesses. This means he cannot seek the protection afforded to a limited company by administration, receivership or liquidation.

He said: "I'm not immune to the downturn either and the banks won't release the money to me or for people to buy the properties.

"I do owe some money to the people who were working on the church but I can assure them that they will be paid."

Whyte was disqualified from being a company director for 10 years, after he was declared ‘unfit' under section 6 of the Company Directors Disqualification Act 1986.

He said: "It is well documented that I am dyslexic and paperwork has never been my strong point. That's why I was disqualified."

The developer paid thousands of pounds to good causes in Salford and paid for a new roof for the iconic Salford Lads Club.

He said: "I want to make it clear that I now think of Salford as my home and I have put down roots here. I have done a lot of good for this city as well."

Richard Saville, insolvency practitioner of Begbies Traynor in Nottingham, said: "I can confirm that I have been contacted by Chek Whyte.

"He had secured debts of £26m, and unsecured trade creditors owe around £5m. There is also some money owing to the Inland Revenue."

PDW, the consultancy firm managing the regeneration of Emmanuel Church, were unavailable for comment.

If creditors agree to an IVA, a meeting of Mr Whyte's unsecured creditors is likely to take place on August 17.