Files given by Allied Irish Bank to the serious fraud office were “filleted” to back up the prosecution case against Achilleas Kallakis, a court in London has been told.
Continuing his closing speech, George Carter-Stephenson QC, for Mr Kallakis, accused the bank of selectively presenting its “paper files”, such as notes of meetings and correspondence between its staff and Mr Kallakis.
He said this was done to remove references to Mr Kallakis’s family trust and cast him as being in charge.
‘References removed’
“I’m going to suggest that the AIB files have been deliberately filleted,” Mr Cater-Stephenson said, “that they have gone through these files and removed, where possible, references to the trust.”
Mr Carter-Stephenson took aim at Stuart Muldowney, a member of AIB’s property team who dealt with Mr Kallakis, and the fact that he “recycled” his notebook.
“Is it these notes have disappeared because they didn’t support what the AIB witnesses say?” he asked. “They are crucial, aren’t they, absolutely crucial? What does Mr Muldowney say? They didn’t find their way on to the files because he was too busy . . . to transfer a single note on to the electronic system. Credible or incredible? I am going to suggest it is absolutely incredible.”
Rather than presenting himself as in charge, Mr Kallakis made it clear he was just an adviser, consulting on behalf of the trust and answering to Swiss lawyer Michael Becker who was the trustee, Mr Carter-Stephenson said.
The bank was told the beneficiaries of the trust were Mr Kallakis’s children, not him.
Mr Carter-Stephenson said the misleading information contained on the credit applications – which painted Mr Kallakis as a wealthy shipping magnate and the principle in the deal – came from “outside sources”, including a letter from David Nicholson and a “mistake” in a letter from Mr Becker, which was corrected – not from Mr Kallakis.
“Mr Kallakis never got the opportunity in relation to any of these credit applications to say, ‘hang on, that’s not right, that’s not correct, it’s not correct that I’m the principal, it’s the trust that’s doing this transaction’.”
Bankers blamed
Mr Carter-Stephenson also blamed the bankers who compiled the credit applications, saying they misinterpreted some of the material, placed their own emphasis on points, then cut and copied the information for new applications, perpetuating the mistakes.
“They misinterpret what the situation is, sometimes they write down what they think the situation should be, what they think will ease things through credit.”
Mr Kallakis and co-defendant Alexander Williams are accused of creating fraudulent guarantees to get inflated property loans from AIB and of defrauding the Bank of Scotland, part of the HBOS group, of €29 million to convert a ferry into a “superyacht”.
The trial continues.
