CHC assets probe ongoing

Nearly three years after investigations into what happened in the collapse of Custom House Capital (CHC), it is still unclear as to what assets the company owns.

In response to a parliamentary question from Fine Gael’s Eoghan Murphy, the minister for finance said it was still working to figure out to whom certain assets, such as properties abroad, belong.

Minister Micheal Noonan said the investigation into the ownership and liquidation of assets was complicated by the company’s deception and legislation surrounding pension holdings.

“As identified in the Final Inspectors Report, there was large-scale misuse of client holdings and systematic deception by CHC that caused uncertainty surrounding the legitimate ownership of all client holdings. As a result, this is not a routine liquidation and, in the interests of all clients, the legitimate ownership of holdings must be established before any payment or return of holdings can be made to any client. The situation is further complicated by the fact that in many cases these holdings form part of various pension arrangements (e.g. ARFs, PRSAs) which are subject to additional legislation.”

Investors in Customs House Capital including solicitors, accountants, doctors and business people were among 1,500 investors who lost €56m in what High Court judge Gerard Hogan called an “Irish Ponzi scheme” were told to apply to the Investor Compensation Company Ltd (ICCL).

Since then only 428 claims worth more than €6.6m have been verified and paid out by administrator Kieran Wallace of KPMG. In his reply, Mr Noonan said there had been nearly 2,000 claims to the ICCL but verifying claims was a long processes.

“The legislation provides that it is the administrator, not the ICCL, who checks the validity of each claim and determines the level of compensatable loss to be paid. . . the administrator had indicated that this will be a protracted process.”