A Nottinghamshire entrepreneur who featured in the Channel 4 series Secret Millionaire has been declared bankrupt.

Property Tycoon Chek Whyte is believed to have debts of around £30 million, and had attempted to make arrangements to continue trading whilst paying off his debts. He was issued with a bankruptcy order following a petition by creditor Halls Furnishings Ltd, which trades as Loft Interiors of Manchester.

The self-made millionaire appeared on the Channel 4 series in 2007 and donated money to a number of good causes in Salford, Greater Manchester.

Whyte made his fortune in the property and construction industry, renovating dilapidated listed buildings such as Colwick Hall and Clifton Hall in Nottingham.

Whyte had put forward proposals to set up what is known as an ‘individual voluntary arrangement’, or an IVA, which would have allowed him to make partial payments to creditors. However, this was withdrawn, according to Karl Williams of Manchester-based law firm Pannonne.

“Mr Whyte’s exposure on TV has portrayed him as an altruistic individual but sadly his business dealings have left him owing suppliers tens of thousands of pounds and these businesses have to take steps to recover monies owed to them,” said Williams.

The bankruptcy was confirmed at a hearing at Leicester County Court. The fallen tycoon plans to put forward new IVA plans.

Speaking in July, Mr Whyte said he aimed to repay his debts.

“I will do my utmost to get them paid, that is my only goal,” he said.

“I’m going to work for the next so many years… five years, to get everybody paid. If I can get them paid in the short-term rather than the long-term it’s better for everybody.”

This entry was posted on Thursday, September 3rd, 2009 at 9:29 am and is filed under Housing Market, Investing, Mortgages. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.