An elderly woman has petitioned the High Court to wind up an Irish entity owned by a collapsed German property company.
Kathleen Dineen (78) claims she is owed a total of €135,000 and her counsel said she "has been consistently fobbed off' when she sought repayment of her loan note investment.
The German Property Group, formerly known as Dolphin Capital, collapsed last year after taking more than €1 billion from investors in Ireland, the UK, Asia and elsewhere.
Money had been raised from more than 1,800 Irish investors by way of issuing loan notes for the purpose of buying and renovating listed buildings in Germany with promises of annual returns of as much as 15 per cent.
On Monday, Bernard Dunleavy SC, for Mrs Dineen, from Ballincollig, Co Cork, sought the winding up of MUT 103 Ltd, an Irish company with offices at Naas, Co Kildare, which is linked to the German Property Group, formerly known as Dolphin Capital.
Mr Dunleavy said his client is owed €127,000 along with interest of €8,000.
He said Mrs Dineen has multiple sclerosis and suffered a stroke three years ago. The loan note was for three years and she was due to be repaid in February 2020.
He said Mrs Dineen, through her son, had written seeking the money be repaid and a formal demand was made last August. She had also sought meetings with the company.
Mr Dunleavy said there was no acknowledgement from the company the debt was owed and no acknowledgement on behalf of the company about insolvency and a failure to pay.
‘Fobbed off’
Mrs Dineen was “consistently fobbed off” and, if the company had been straight and up-front it would be a better position. “The company did not alert her it could not pay her. She was told she had no claim, which was patently incorrect. None of the promised meetings took place,” counsel said.
In an affidavit, Mrs Dineen said she is an elderly woman and had asked her son Paul Dineen, a solicitor, to assist her in dealing with the company in an effort to recover the money due and owing to her.
She said her son had engaged in extensive communications on her behalf with the company and its administrator Wealth Options Trustees Ltd, in which he raised "multiple concerns" in relation to the structure between the company and Dolphin Capital and requested payment of the alleged debt.
She said the chief issue of concern to her – about the debt – had not been addressed in any substantive way and no payment had been received.
Peggy O’Rourke SC, for the company, said it sought the petition to be dismissed, adjourned or stayed. There was a very complicated process involved and creditor meetings of Irish loan note holders to assess future options could start as early next week, she said.
Mr Justice Brian O’Moore will give his decision on the winding-up application later in the week.
