Ciaran Maguire Claims He Gave Deposits Back

OK, latest installment on the weirdness that is the CMG and Flash Developments story courtesy of the Sunday Business Post.

Mr. Maguire claims he's given the deposits back to the agency selling the property but it was never passed back to the investors - Anthony Joyce (solicitor) says there is no evidence to suggest that he did any such thing. Joyce also says most of the money was paid directly to Flash Developments, which Maguire denies.

KPMG (Flash Liquidators) also claim that Maguire has no title in CV, which he denies vehemently - but still appears incapable of producing documentation to prove ownership. Very strange stuff.

Note, there are no claims of this being a €1.8 billion Resort anymore.

http://www.sbpost.ie/news/ireland/maguire-claiming-to-have-repaid-cape-verde-investors-52447.html

Dublin-based businessman Ciarán Maguire, who is being sued by a group of investors in a €100 million resort in Cape Verde, has claimed that he refunded their deposits to the sales agency but that the money has not been passed on to the investors.

Maguire told The Sunday Business Post that he had been in discussions with Dublin solicitor Anthony Joyce, who is representing the group who have lodged a class action in the High Court against Maguire and his company, the Ciaran Maguire Group.

They are seeking immediate repayment of their deposits. Maguire claims that the investors represented by Joyce bought through a sales agency and not through him or his companies.

‘‘I refunded the agency. Now, unfortunately, that was never recycled back," said Maguire.

‘‘I’ve a very, very clear paper trail to show I’ve actually paid the agency back."

However, Joyce said the case would be proceeding until all monies were repayed to his clients.

He said that ‘‘a number of clients had paid small deposits to an agency, but they paid the remaining monies to Flash Developments’’, another company controlled by Maguire.

‘‘We’ve seen no paperwork to suggest Maguire had refunded any money to the agency," said Joyce.

Flash Developments collapsed into liquidation last May, and the High Court ordered an investigation into the company, after evidence emerged that it had used deposits from buyers to finance the running of the firm.

Court documents also include claims that the company did not have title to land in Cape Verde, but Maguire continues to claim that he has title to the land.

‘‘I’ve subsequently been liaising with KPMG, and they are now happy that Ciaran Maguire Group does have the contracts in place with the Cape Verde government and does have the relevant title on the land in Boa Vista," he told The Sunday Business Post.

But liquidator Kieran Wallace of KMPG said that this was not the case. ‘‘We have no evidence whatsoever to date that Maguire has title on any land in Cape Verde," Wallace told this newspaper.

‘‘We understand that he put a lot of money down on two plots of land through Flash Developments and never got title.

There’s no paperwork to show title on any land.

We’ve seen no proof that he’s repaid any monies."

However, Maguire insists that the Ciaran Maguire Group is continuing to build the Palm View development of 400 apartments and villas on the island of Boa Vista. He said that construction on the 111-acre plot had begun, and that completions were expected by December 2011.

According to Maguire, 300 units have been sold off the plans in the first phase of the scheme, with prices ranging from €50,000 up to €865,000.

Credit Crunch Causes Cape Verde Development Fallout

There are signs of cracks on the veneer of the property industry of the idyllic island archipelago of Cape Verde. 

A judgement granted against developers Tom Sheehy (Cape Verde Development) and John Cahillane shows the level of distress that is being felt in the industry at the moment, particularly in 'emerging markets' such as Cape Verde. 

The case, brought by Brian Murphy-O'Connor and Ted Whittaker against the two developers, shows just how cashflow in the industry is rapidly running dry. Sheehy doesn't deny the money is owed but, like everyone else, they are finding it difficult to get their hands on funding at the moment.  Under normal market conditions you suspect a case like this would never make it to court. 

See our full editorial piece on the case and its ramifications for the island group here. 

Register now to receive our informative newsletter, save searches and tailor your OverseasCafe.com experience to your own needs.

_________________________________________________

 

For a selection of property from around the world click here.

For a listing of agents selling overseas property click here.

For independent articles on overseas property click here.

For advice on purchasing property overseas click here.

For news on the world of overseas property click here.

For new releases and product updates from agents around the world click here.

For a list of upcoming overseas property exhibitions around the country click here.

Orient Palace, Bodrum - Pursued in Irish Courts

There is an update on the Orient Palace project in today's Irish Times. The development is in Bodrum, Turkey.

The Times article says "Twenty-eight Irish couples who invested millions in a Turkish apartments development have been granted High Court permission to issue and serve claims for their money back on the developers." It goes on to say that the couples have "obtained an injunction in the Dutch courts freezing €4,329,000 they had paid into investment funds in the Netherlands."

According to the piece: "Irish, British and other investors paid more than €30 million in 2005 for apartments in Bodrum which were supposed to have been built and completed by the end of 2006."

It also says: "Yesterday's proceedings were launched against the Turkish company, Euro Holding AS, which, Mr Beatty said, claimed to own the property where 188 apartments were to be developed in a new five-star resort of 1,000 units. He said it now transpired they did not own the property."

The piece claims that Robin Donagh, a solicitor with Mason Hayes Curran, stated in an affidavit; "construction was to have been completed in September 2006 but instead the development is now an unfinished shell. There had been no further construction for more than 12 months and completion seemed unlikely."

He also said that Euro Holding had either acted as principal or in partnership with Unifin Groep BV, a Dutch-registered company with offices in Arnhem.

The piece also says; "Mr. Donagh said these two companies engaged with three other defendants, Turkey Real Estate Direct Ltd, Thomas Collins (Auctioneers) Ltd trading as Remax Associates; Celturk Ltd, trading as Astute Property International, and Med Dreams Property, in extensively advertising and marketing the development to Irish consumers. Unifin Groep had been legally established under Dutch law to market, sell and collect all purchase money for the development on behalf of Euro Holding."

This latest development with the Orient Palace development is detailed on our site, you'll find the piece here. The full Irish Times story is here. The article features in the Indo today as well, but it is practically the same piece, even written by the same guy, except that it's been edited more than the Times piece. The Indo article is here.

This development has been discussed in a previous blog which can be found here. Once again the picture used here is of the Orient Palace I in Alanya because the Bodrum project is only 40% complete (not Orient Palace II in Alanya which hasn't got any further than the Bodrum version). Couldn't have you looking at pictures of half finished buildings now, could we?

The Orient Palace project is, worryingly enough, still being promoted by Euro Holding despite the fact that the company has absolutely no possibility of completing the project in its current financial state. You can find the promotion at their website here. 

__________________________________

Turkish Property Links

For a selection of property in Turkey click here.

For a list of agents selling property in Turkey click here.

For independent articles on overseas property click here.

For advice on purchasing in Turkey click here.

For news on the Turkish property market click here.

For new releases and product updates from Turkish agents click here.

For a selection of property exhibitions featuring Turkish property click here.

Register now to receive our informative newsletter, save searches and tailor your OverseasCafe.com experience to your own needs.

Couple fail in case against Platinum Developments

This is a story that seems to have come in under the radar for some reason. It's a worrying one as it involves Platinum Developments in Sandyford, a company lauded for pulling its Sunset Beach Resort in Pomorie (pictured) out of the fire when the Dutch developer legged it with a bag of cash. Credit is most certainly due to the company for not folding its tent and heading for the hills as many others would have done. The company morphed from an agent to a substantial Bulgarian developer, the largest foreign developer in the country as far as we can ascertain, and completed this development. Credit where it's due then.

There would, however, still seem to be substantial problems at the original Pomorie development in relation to promised refunds, which the Irish company is foisting on the Dutch parent, the original cause of all the problems, but also with rentals and management. See the totally property forum if you want to get in touch with others in the same boat. The forum doesn't have a posting since last November, but we're not sure whether this is because everything was settled to the owners' satisfaction or if Platinum had it shut down (it doesn't appear to be closed though). AskAboutMoney.com was threatened by the company over a posting on its forum, which you'll find here, some months ago. It was subsequently suspended.

The most recent story about Platinum is in last Wednesday's Indo and Times (you need to be a subscriber to view the whole lot). The Indo version (it was on page 4 beside a picture of Bono in Japan) doesn't seem to appear online for some reason but Eircom, God bless 'em, appear to be able to provide the full story, even though it too came from the Times.

Some excerpts:

"Mr and Mrs Uwen had said they remortgaged their home in England in 2003 to invest in the Pomorie Golf and Beach Resort in Bulgaria, owned by a Dutch company, NV Capital Ground and Building Investment (CGBI). It was developing the lands through a holding company.

The Uwens say they paid CGBI €215,000 for 14 apartments and two commercial units, representing 20 per cent deposits on the purchase, and received receipts.

In mid-2004 the Dutch authorities froze CGBI's assets after it hit financial difficulties. Works ceased with about one-tenth of the complex complete, Daniel Simms, for Mr O'Reilly, told the court.

Mr Simms said Mr O'Reilly, whose Platinum Developments firm had acted as a selling agent for CGBI, put together a team of investors to "salvage" the project, and they acquired the CGBI holding company. This firm's name was changed to Sunset Resort OOD and, in letters to the Uwens, Mr O'Reilly said he was the owner of Sunset.

In an affidavit, Mr O'Reilly said the Uwens were offered options on how to deal with their investment, and they chose repayment on completion of the development.

Mr O'Reilly denied they were entitled to receive €215,000, and said the amount was just €12,800. CGBI had informed Sunset the Uwens had paid that latter amount, he said in his affidavit.

Because the Uwens had chosen a refund on completion, they had no contract with him and acceptance of this option stipulated that the laws of Bulgaria would apply in any dispute, he said.

The Uwens claimed Mr O'Reilly repeatedly ignored letters seeking a refund and was "deliberate" in trying to avoid refunding them.

If Mr O'Reilly was sued in the Bulgarian courts, he would say there was no contract between his firm and the couple, they said. Despite Mr O'Reilly saying in May 2007 that the resort was complete, they had not been repaid."

The Uwens were essentially told to go sue Neill O'Reilly in Bulgaria although the judge did agree that they appeared to have a case and granted them costs.

The full story is here.

_______________________________________

For a selection of property in Bulgaria click here.

For a list of agents selling property in Bulgaria click here.

For independent articles on the Bulgarian property market click here.

For advice on purchasing in Bulgaria click here.

For news on the Bulgarian property market click here.

For new releases and product updates from Bulgaria agents click here.

For a selection of property exhibitions featuring Bulgaria property click here.

Register now to receive our informative newsletter, save searches and tailor your OverseasCafe.com experience to your own needs.