ALLIED Irish Bank’s (AIB) attitude towards former property developer Tom Gilmartin in the early 1990s "appeared most irregular", a British commercial property consultant told the Mahon Tribunal yesterday.
Richard Forman, of the London-based Connell Wilson consultancy firm, said AIB’s "aggressive" approach towards Mr Gilmartin certainly did not follow the approach he was accustomed to with other financial institutions and other projects in Britain.
An adviser to Sligo-born Mr Gilmartin on commercial property matters relating to British projects for many years, Mr Forman described Mr Gilmartin as having considerable credibility in his field.
He said AIB was arranging meetings in Dublin at a moment’s notice with the sole purpose of abusing Mr Gilmartin.
He said he found it "strange and puzzling" for the bank (which had given Mr Gilmartin a short-term IR£8.5 million loan) to bring in Cork-based developer Owen O’Callaghan who was not bringing equity into the Quarryvale project.
After Mr Gilmartin got into financial difficulties in Britain, resulting in his being declared a bankrupt, Mr O’Callaghan took control of the Gilmartin company used to drive the project which ultimately became the successful Liffey Valley shopping centre.
"The whole thrust of the bank’s attitude appeared to be designed to force Mr Gilmartin to pass over equity and control of his [Barkhill] company to Mr Owen O’Callaghan.
"It appeared that the bank was discussing Barkhill’s business with Mr O’Callaghan even though he had no involvement with the company," said Mr Forman.
He recalled how he and Mr Gilmartin attended a Barkhill meeting at the bank "to find Mr O’Callaghan was also present although neither Tom [Gilmartin] nor I had invited him".
"This drive by the bank to try to get Mr Gilmartin to hand over a share of his company to another customer appeared most irregular," he said.
In his opinion Mr Gilmartin had the skill set to develop Quarryvale to its potential. AIB could have chosen the option to sell the valuable site and recover the investment made.
The witness has backed up claims by Mr Gilmartin that the late TD Liam Lawlor sabotaged a key meeting attended by potential British investors in Mr Gilmartin’s project. Mr Gilmartin was then close to signing an agreement with the British company Heron as a development partner when Mr Lawlor arrived at their table uninvited and declared Quarryvale was "mad dog and bandit country".
Mr Forman said Mr Lawlor undid all their work in persuading the visiting investors about the stability of the Irish property market. "We tried to make light of his comments and to treat them flippantly." But he felt Mr Lawlor’s intervention had effectively sown the seeds of doubt and the potential investors pulled out afterwards.
a d v e r t i s e m e n t
This appeared in the printed version of the Irish Examiner Thursday, May 01, 2008
