Since leaving jail a little more than a decade ago, Savas Guven has emerged as a very wealthy man.
After a disturbed childhood in Turkey and Australia, a gambling problem, a violent armed robbery and two years in jail, the high-flying businessman formerly known as Savas Yucel has built a property portfolio worth more than $16 million – almost none of it in his name.
![AllRound Access boss Savas Guven on one of his properties.](/web/20161217022401im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/g/t/3/7/x/p/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gtcc8g.png/1481878458677.jpg)
Fairfax Media revealed this month that Guven, who threatened to stab staff during an electronics store robbery in 2000, faces charges of intimidation and assault over a confrontation this year.
Now Fairfax Media can detail the extent of Guven's wealth, the financial structure that keeps his property ownership at arm's length, his battles in court and his controversial plans for an $11 million development.
Guven runs a series of construction services companies known as the AllRound Access group, none large enough to disclose to the corporate regulator just how much they earn.
Nine years after his release from jail and two years after setting up AllRound Access, Guven's first big buy was a $5.6 million Dover Heights property purchased through a company connected to his Yucel Family Trust. But he pulled out of the deal before settlement and hired a Queen's Counsel barrister to successfully defend the decision in court.
Guven's shopping spree began in earnest in 2014, firstly with the $1.6 million purchase of a row of Kingsford shops.
Three months later, his wife Jade Guven, born Jade Welsh, bought the couple a $5 million Mosman home on Hopetoun Avenue, overlooking Cobblers Bay Beach. They planned a 15-metre-high, $2.5 million renovation – including five bedrooms, four bathrooms and a "car turntable" – which council rejected following complaints from neighbours.
![The Acacia Botany, an $11 million Botany Road project Guven is spearheading.](/web/20161217022401im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/g/t/c/c/w/i/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gtcc8g.png/1481878458677.jpg)
The Guvens did not stop there. In April this year, ARA Property Group, controlled by Guven but ultimately owned by Jade, splashed out on a $4.8 million site at 1445 Botany Road, Botany.
Another company controlled by Guven but owned by Jade, BRP Property Group, added two more sites to the couple's portfolio for an extra $4.7 million. And Guven had big plans for both.
![Savas Guven on site at the Mars Road property in Lane Cove West.](/web/20161217022401im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/g/t/3/7/x/q/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gtcc8g.png/1481878458677.jpg)
Last December, BRP snapped up 1356-1362 Botany Road, Botany, for $1.9 million.
Where others saw a derelict service station, Guven saw a four-storey complex of "bespoke" apartments above a supermarket and two underground parking levels.
![Savas Guven from his LinkedIn profile.](/web/20161217022401im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/g/t/3/7/x/r/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gtcc8g.png/1481878458677.jpg)
He submitted a development application to Botany City Council, now Bayside Council, which opposed the plans on a range of grounds. Council and nearby residents worried Guven's dream was too big and poorly designed, a threat to the character and heritage of the street.
But Guven took the fight to the Land and Environment court and after some amendments won approval to build 28 units and a 1335-square-metre supermarket as part of a "boutique building" called Acacia Botany.
![Guven's partially demolished Mosman home.](/web/20161217022401im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/g/t/3/9/r/u/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gtcc8g.png/1481878458677.jpg)
Based on price plans, Guven stands to make roughly $20 million in revenue off the units alone, with the three-bedroom apartments going for $1 million.
North of the bridge, work on a second BRP purchase, bought for $2.8 million, has led to altercations with neighbours and an investigation by council.
Guven oversaw the illegal felling of more than a dozen trees including mature gums on an industrial site at Mars Road, Lane Cove West, to make way for shipping containers and stacks of scaffolding equipment.
Footage obtained by Fairfax Media shows Guven aggressively confronting two women who tried to stop the felling, taking one woman's phone as she attempted to call the police.
Lane Cove Council has confirmed it is investigating the land clearing and considering legal action.
Guven has bragged to neighbours at the Mars Road site that he is worth $15 million. Nevertheless, a subsidiary company owned by his wife, of which he was the sole director, did not have enough money to pay a $77,000 debt to the Australian Tax Office plus other debts to several small businesses. AllRound Access Solutions was sent into liquidation in February.
Guven faces court next March on two charges of intimidation and one charge of assault in relation to an alleged incident of "parking rage".
He declined to comment.