The liquidator of the Taylor and Associated Financial Services (TAFS) is to continue his court action to try to get access to proceeds from the convicted broker Tony Taylor's house sale. However, the move is unlikely to benefit creditors who are owed almost £2 million (€2.5 million).
Taylor was sentenced to five years in jail earlier this week, when he pleaded guilty to five of 13 charges of fraud and other crimes in the Circuit Criminal Court. The remaining charges were dropped.
The liquidator, Mr Paddy McSwiney, confirmed that he would be pursuing the £365,000 that remains frozen in a bank account. The monies are proceeds of the sale of Taylor's Ballsbridge home four years ago, which he owned jointly with his wife Shirley.
Mr McSwiney said he would be meeting his legal advisers shortly and examining the court judgment and evidence. He began legal moves against the former broker more than four years ago but these were put on hold because of the criminal investigation.
The liquidator had taken court proceedings under Section 204 of the Companies Act, which makes officers of a company liable where their failure to keep proper books and records leads to substantial losses within the company, or hinders the liquidator in his attempts to locate assets. The aim was to make Taylor and his wife personally liable for the company's debts.
Earlier this week the High Court heard evidence that Taylor had asked one of his employees to destroy papers and records dating back to 1989, before fleeing to Britain in 1996. It is understood that Mr McSwiney will be examining this evidence to see if it helps his own legal proceedings.
He will also be examining the Investment Intermediaries Act to see if it applies. Taylor was the first person convicted under this Act.
Approximately £1.8 million is still owed to 17 clients but it is unlikely that they will ever see any of it. The liquidator, if successful, will first discharge the various legal and other costs associated with the liquidation.
The fact that the property was the family home may also have a bearing on matters. The court may take a view on this and may also rule that Mrs Taylor is entitled to half of the proceeds. The well-appointed property, near the RDS in Dublin's Ballsbridge, was sold for £580,000 to Ms Michelle Rocca. She subsequently sold it for £1.7 million in June 1999.
However, there was an outstanding mortgage of £100,000 that National Irish Bank had furnished. The bank got these monies when the house was sold. Taylor previously asked the High Court for part of the property sale proceeds to help fund his defence.
Of the monies owed to Taylor clients, at least one was owed £250,000, according to sources. Another was owed at least £100,000. The Society of St Vincent de Paul was owed £185,000 but has since been reimbursed, mainly by Fidelity Investments with which the Taylor group had an agency.
