Chek-ered History

Only a year ago he was bravely talking about his plans for a 50-storey tower block in the middle of Nottingham. But yesterday it emerged that the East Midlands' developer and entrepreneur Chek Whyte was declared bankrupt last Friday.

Of course this is the second time round for ex-Channel 4 Secret Millionaire Whyte who first learned about the ups and downs (more precisely: the downs) of the business world almost exactly a decade ago. He was barred from being a company director then, this time he has HM Revenue & Customs on his case for a reported £1.6m unpaid tax bill, as well as others, but it could be worse.

Learning his lesson the first time Whyte set up a labyrinthine business structure that is likely to mean that his personal assets and possibly others besides are well out of reach of his clamouring creditors. In addition, his 10-year company directorship ban expires this year. Which may possibly be why Whyte last month backed out of a voluntary repayment agreement that would have paid off his companies' debts over a period of years?

Whyte is nothing if not resilient; he has been in tight scrapes before and come out the other side none the worse for wear. So I fully expect him to reappear within the next year confidently talking up his next property project. Whether the market will be charmed by his patter is another matter, but history suggests that it probably will.