A pension fund associated with a Dublin businessman has said it is owed €618,834 from the estate of a Dún Laoghaire solicitor who died in tragic circumstances in October 2022.
David Montgomery (54) was the managing partner in his family’s legal practice, Thomas Montgomery & Son Solicitors (TM&SS), when he drowned in Dún Laoghaire harbour. At the time, the married father of two was the subject of an investigation by the Law Society into his legal practice.
On Friday the High Court was told solicitors acting for Mr Montgomery’s widow, Ciara McGoldrick, executor to his estate, are disputing a claim by a self-administered pension fund, the sole beneficiary of which is businessman Connie Kelleher, of Hainault Road, Foxrock, Dublin 18.
In a vacation application to the court, Mr Kelleher, and Peter Griffin, of Sandyford Business Centre, Dublin 18, trustee to the Woodfield Pension Trust (WPT), successfully sought an order from Ms Justice Eileen Roberts for the appointment of an administrator, solicitor Fiachra Baynes, to act as a defendant in a case they wish to take against the late solicitor’s estate.
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Mr Kelleher, a former finance manager of Dún Laoghaire-based State agency Bord Iascaigh Mhara, is of “pensionable age”, but is unable to retire or draw down his pension because it is underfunded, allegedly as a direct consequence of the failure of TM&SS to pay over funds it owes, according to a report submitted to the court.
The expert report from accountant Tom Murray of Friel Stafford, says his examination of the law firm’s client account shows a deficit of €618,834 in money it held for WPT.
The report says the pension fund used the law firm to loan more than €3 million to third parties, charging interest on the loans, but some money forwarded to the law firm was used for other purposes, entirely unconnected with WPT.
In an affidavit, solicitor Owen Swaine of Swaine Solicitors, for the pension fund, said he understood the applicants may not be the only creditors with a claim against the law firm and referred to a press report that the Revenue Commissioners may be pursuing the law firm, the affairs of which involve “a €1.7 million hole”.
[ Deficit in Dublin law firm’s client account rose to nearly €1.7mOpens in new window ]
In a letter to Swaine solicitors on September 26th, solicitors for Ms McGoldrick, Dublin law firm BHSM said Mr Montgomery’s estate was “a complex one” and Ms McGoldrick was not yet in a position to apply for a grant of probate.
Her solicitors said Ms McGoldrick had been aware, through the Law Society, of Mr Kelleher’s claims and asked if he had made a claim to the Law Society’s Compensation Fund.
Ms McGoldrick was represented in court by Niall Fahy BL. Mr Kelleher was represented by Eanna Mulloy SC. The court was told the applicants are also seeking “unliquidated damages” or damages that would be decided by a court.
Mr Murray’s expert report says Mr Kelleher used his pension funds to make private loan notes to independent borrowers, with the money going through the client account of TM&SS. The loan notes were secured against assets.
The law firm was used to handle six loan transactions on behalf of WPT. Money into the law firm’s client account associated with the loans was €3.5 million and outgoing was €3.31 million.
Mr Murray said a number of transactions on the client account had nothing to do with WPT or Mr Kelleher.
The transactions show that the operation of the client account was “casual at best and potentially fraudulent at worst, with clients’ funds being potentially utilised for other clients and/or unintended purposes”, Mr Murray said.
The report said the WPT trustees are unwilling to facilitate the retirement of the pension scheme given the uncertainty and the possible financial and taxation implications for them of taking action before the uncertainties are resolved.
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