Cameron Hughes's Death in Bali Detention Leaves Customers in Limbo

Perth businessman Cameron Hughes died in a Bali immigration detention centre last week. His death has left dozens of car restoration customers facing potential losses of hundreds of thousands of dollars, the ABC reported.

Hughes, 39, was detained by Balinese immigration authorities on Friday for allegedly breaching his visa conditions. He was found unresponsive in a toilet. The cause of death remains under investigation.

His death threw his car restoration businesses, Karma Kombis and Holden Resto Bali, into limbo. Customers across Australia and overseas said vehicles were unfinished or delivered in an unroadworthy condition. Some cars are missing.

The ABC spoke with nearly two dozen customers and reviewed documents and messages from Hughes. It found a decade of dealings with customers who said they were wronged, and a deteriorating personal life over the past year Hughes often blamed for his business woes.

Customers paid amounts ranging from a few thousand dollars to $100,000 for Hughes to source and restore classic cars. His yard in Bali is filled with vehicles at different stages of restoration. Some customers' cars have been there for more than five years with little to no work done. Some cars that were delivered were not roadworthy.

One customer, who became a friend of Hughes in 2016, said he often visited Bali and sometimes stayed at Hughes's home. "Cam said he would build me a Kombi in six months for $10,000," he said. After four years of delays and another $30,000, the customer told Hughes to send the vehicle "as is". "It was exactly the same as when I bought it, except a new lick of paint," he said.

Mark Pulford spent almost $80,000 since December 2023 trying to purchase and restore a Holden Torana. After an initial paint job in April, a progress photo eight months later showed windscreens being fitted. "The only time anything was completed on the car was on the day I visited his workshop, something very minor. Then nothing else would be completed until I visited again," Pulford told the ABC.

A private Facebook community called Holden Resto Bali Horror Stories has grown from about 200 members to more than 500 since Hughes's death. A public version has about 1,000 followers.

Several customers said they have no idea where their car is. Others said they have given up on ever recouping the money they paid. One customer told the ABC that car parts they had supplied to Hughes were seen on a different customer's vehicle.

The ABC confirmed reports were made to Bali Regional Police about Hughes's business late last year. Some customers also attempted legal mediation. Sources familiar with the case said Hughes agreed to settle on several occasions, never followed through.

In a draft statement provided by his family, which they said Hughes wrote on July 4 before his death but never published, the 39-year-old defended his work. "I was dealing with enormous personal and business stress. My health deteriorated badly. I was hospitalised late last year and again early this year with ulcers and anaemia, requiring blood transfusions," the statement said. "I have since received information from former staff suggesting that work was, at various times, deliberately slowed or stalled and that some work was carried out below the standards I had instructed."

Hughes denied "rumours that I have scammed people" and allegations his business "deliberately does poor-quality work".

As pressure built over the past year, Hughes's communications with customers became increasingly erratic. In an expletive-laden voice message in May 2025, he told one customer to "chill the f*** out and let me finish my job".

In April, Hughes sent a video to another customer from inside the Bali immigration detention centre, where he was waiting for an update about potentially being deported. "[I'm] super stressed, and I apologise," Hughes said. In a subsequent audio message, he explained he had been unable to work on any cars after recently divorcing from his Indonesian wife due to a visa issue. "However, I plan on bloody working every day, so this is really only for a short period," Hughes said.

The ABC understands Hughes had attended the Balinese immigration office several times in the past year, including during his detention on Friday, and was facing deportation.

In his unpublished statement, Hughes offered to allow customers to collect their vehicles before they were completed, or wait until he could legally continue working in Bali. Following his death, the future of his business, and the money and vehicles of his customers, remains unclear.

Several people who knew Hughes in Bali described him initially as an affable man trying his best. "He was a really nice bloke, and easy to talk to, and really friendly. When everything went south ... it wasn't the same person I was speaking to," one person familiar with Hughes said, on condition of anonymity.

In a Facebook post after his death, Hughes's ex-wife Indah told his customers she hoped they could "find it in your hearts to forgive him". "I humbly ask for your forgiveness for any mistakes, hurt, or wrongs he may have caused during his lifetime," Indah said.