Former MP Nigel Hallett fires forgery salvo in battle over son Michael and Nicole Caratti’s former mansion

Former Shooter, Fishers and Farmers politician Nigel Hallett claims that a forgery underpins an Applecross mansion caveat linked to his estranged daughter-in-law Nicole Caratti.

Mr Hallett’s lawyer Nick Gvozdin claimed in the Supreme Court on Tuesday that it was not his signature on a trust deed arguably bestowing the mansion upon a Caratti family company. “That signature that purports to be his is a forgery,” Mr Gvozdin said.

The claim was made while Mr Gvodzdin was trying to keep alive Nigel Hallett’s application to overturn a caveat that the Nicole Caratti-directed Rich Night Pty Ltd lodged over the Tuart Road mansion in November last year.

Ms Caratti lived at the mansion last decade with her now-estranged husband Michael Hallett, the son and close business associate of Nigel Hallett.

She is a member of the wealthy Caratti property family but has been enmeshed in money and legal battles linked to a long-running Australian Taxation Office investigation of her father Allen Caratti.

The Supreme Court row is around a series of dealings in June 2015 either side of Nigel Hallett’s political junket to Indonesia and Japan that became subject to a Crime and Corruption Commission probe

Nigel Hallett allegedly signed a trust deed on June 1, 2015, just before leaving for Jakarta. Ms Caratti transferred the property to her then father-in-law for $2.6m after his return from Japan via Bali.

The row over this property is potentially intertwined in another legal battle enmeshing Hallett and Caratti property interests.

Pushing for the caveat row to become part of the other battle, Rich Night’s lawyer Rod Hooper said their row went beyond the single trust deed from June 2015 and involved dealings over several years.

Mr Hooper said there were allegations about documents being executed for Nigel Hallett by his son. “There are several documents in respect of which similar issues arise,” Mr Hooper said.

Justice Jennifer Smith said she would wait to see the progress of the other row before deciding the fate of Mr Hallett’s application to overturn the caveat.

She adjourned the caveat argument to December 1.