It has lost almost $20 million alone on the value of the Ipswich City Square, in the heart of Ipswich.

The McGrath-Nichol report commissioned by Ipswich City Council, and tabled in Queensland Parliament on Monday night, shows Ipswich City Properties paid $45 million to buy Ipswich City Square from MemoCorp Australia in 2009.

In February 2018, this property was valued at $25,850,000.

However, part of the land where the Icon Building now stands on Limestone Street was sold to Leighton Properties for $93 million, although no profit to Ipswich City Properties is shown.

This $18.77 million paper loss is one reason the Queensland Audit Office in December 2017 said Ipswich City Properties “could not demonstrate value for money” for its plan for developer EPC Pacific to develop the Ipswich Mall.

“ICP cannot demonstrate that it has achieved value for money through its expression of interest campaign where EPC was selected as the preferred developer,” the report says.

Ipswich City councillors in January 2018 reversed the decision to have EPC manage and develop the Ipswich CBD and for Ipswich City Council to “lease space” in its own buildings.

Cr Paul Tully, formerly a director, now chairman of Ipswich City Properties, on Tuesday insisted the plan was always to redevelop the Ipswich Mall “over 20 years, at no cost to ratepayers.”

“It is a long haul and it is not being helped by the minister who is making wild, inaccurate allegations,” Cr Tully said.

The McGrath Nichol report was prepared for Ipswich City Council after the Ipswich City Council 2017 election.

After the 2017 election the now-suspended mayor Andrew Antoniolli and the newly elected council decided to wind up all of the council-owned commercial bodies, except Ipswich City Properties.

Those five bodies were Ipswich City Properties, Ipswich City Developments, Ipswich City Enterprises, Ipswich City Enterprises Incorporated and Ipswich Motorsports Park Pty Ltd.

The first of three reports tabled by Local Government Minister Stirling Hinchliffe on Monday shows only Ipswich City Properties had ongoing business. They were contracts to redevelop the Ipswich Mall.

Mr Hinchliffe told reporters he had serious accountability concerns about issues raised in the three McGrath-Nichol reports and referred them to the Crime and Corruption Commission.

Tenders have been called to redevelop 20,000 square metres of Ipswich Mall. However, they have now been held until an administrator is appointed to Ipswich City Council.

The other four businesses were classified by McGrath Nichol as having no ongoing business.

Ipswich City Council’s former chief executive officer Jim Lindsay was a director of all five companies.

Mr Lindsay was charged in September 2017 with official corruption on an unrelated matter after an investigation by the Crime and Corruption Commission.

Former mayor Paul Pisasale was a director of all five companies until he stood down in June 2017. He was also subsequently charged with unrelated corruption issues after investigations by the Crime and Corruption Commission.

Cr Tully, has until recently been a director of all five companies. He is not charged with any offences.

What the report found in brief

Ipswich City Development (ICD) sold the Redbank Plains Residential Estate on December 20, 2017 for $2.8 million to settle a $2.4 million loan to Ipswich City Council.

Ipswich City Enterprises ran Ipswich’s innovative hub, Fire Station 101 in Limestone Street. The centre received income of more than $83,000 to December 2017. Talks are under way to repay a loan of $18,000 from the Department of Science, Information and Technology because money is now received from venue hire.

Ipswich City Enterprises Investments Pty Ltd, was owned by Ipswich City Enterprises to run council call centres for the Local Government Association of Queensland.

According to first McGrath-Nichol report, that “service agreement was terminated in November 2017. The council-owned company Ipswich City Enterprises received a dividend of $1.7 million.”

The Ipswich Motorsports Precinct operated on a $450,000 loan from Ipswich City Council to run motorsports activities near Willowbank.

The Queensland Government also provided $150,000 to prepare a master plan. More than $189,000 went in consultants’ fees to prepare a master plan, while $257,000 was spent on managing the site.