Sebastian Monsour, 44, spent the night in Brisbane Watchhouse and appeared briefly in Brisbane Magistrates Court on Friday morning.

As part of Mr Monsour’s bail conditions, police prosecutor Peri Cardiff put forward Mr Monsour have no direct or indirect contact with Fusheng Li, the victim of the alleged fraud.

But defence lawyer Nick Dore said his client was involved in an ongoing civil litigation with Mr Li and requested the condition be altered to allow indirect contact.

“It has all been handled very civilly,” he told the court.

He must not have direct contact with Luke Kirke.

Mr Monsour was required to hand over his passport and not leave the country.

His matter was adjourned until July 16.

The accused has never been in business with Mr Newman, who on Thursday told Fairfax Media his brother-in-law was entitled to his day in court.

Outside court, Mr Dore said his client would be contesting the charge.

The chief executive officer of real estate development company Majella Group was arrested on Thursday after police raided a Spring Hill property, seizing documents, financial records and electronic evidence.

It was alleged Mr Monsour accepted three significant payments totalling $5 million from Chinese investor Mr Li, who was told the money would be put into three separate property and business investments.

Police alleged those investments did not exist at the time the money was accepted and Mr Monsour allegedly had no authority, appropriate licence or credentials to manage investments on behalf of other companies.

The alleged offence took place on "diverse dates" between February 28 and December 31 last year at Spring Hill, according to court documents.

Mr Li was nominated by Business and Skilled Migration Queensland BSMQ for a significant investor visa in August 2016.

Significant investor visa holders are required to invest $5 million into “complying significant investments” for a minimum of four years before being eligible to apply for a permanent visa, according to the Department of Home Affairs website.

Police said on Thursday following Mr Monsour’s arrest that investigations were under way to find where the money went.