A Belfast Court heard yesterday how a number of investors, many of them pensioners, lost everything they invested when International Investments Ltd collapsed with estimated losses of around £7 million.
The trial of ex-financier Mr Finbarr Ross entered its second day at Belfast Crown Court, with the first witnesses taking the stand to give evidence.
Dressed in a navy suit and purple shirt, Mr Ross, who denies the 41 fraud-related charges, sat flanked by two prison officers, listening intently and nodding occasionally in agreement with some of the witnesses. The jury heard from 10 witnesses, all of whom claimed they, or the person they represented, had invested capital with the Gibraltar-based investment company before it crashed in 1984.
Of the 10 witnesses who gave evidence, only three claimed they had been paid any monies, namely a cheque or cheques for interest which had accrued on the accounts. Other than these payments, all the witnesses claimed the initial sums that had been invested had never been repaid.
Each of the witnesses was shown evidence in the form of an alleged statement of accounts dated January 1984 in respect of his or her investment and the interest accrued.
During cross-examination, the first witness, Mr Thomas Rodgers, agreed with counsel for the defence, Mr Arthur Harvey QC, that there was nothing false or inaccurate about the statement he had received, and the document did not lead him to believe anything other than that his investment was going well.
The second witness, Mr Gerard Lowe, gave evidence on behalf of his late father, Dr John Lowe of Carryduff. He said he realised his father was a member of a committee of inspection in which Dublin barrister Mr Colm Allen SC was also involved.
Another witness, Mrs Margaret McEvoy from Portadown, who had also lost her investment, claimed she recalled attending the Drumkeen Hotel where Mr Allen addressed a meeting.
In the majority of the cases heard yesterday, the investors had used a broker to make their deposits with the company.
Mr Harvey showed a document to the jury which alleged that Sovereign Investments had investigated directors of International Investments Ltd. The document, a letter, also allegedly claimed to have taken the necessary precaution of purchasing a suitable insurance policy, namely from Barclays Bank.
The case continues.
