Goodman wins 10-year battle to recoup #12.5m

Mr Larry Goodman has won a 10-year battle to recover £20 million sterling (#12.5 million) lent to Tipperary farmer Mr Joe Kenny which ended up in a Cyprus bank account.

The Cyprus District Court ruled yesterday that the money and accrued interest be returned to ABP Holdings, one of Mr Goodman's companies, according to a statement from the company. Sources close to the Goodman group said that interest could amount to another £20 million.

The statement said that the banks which loaned ABP Holdings the money in 1990 would receive "a payment in excess of the £20 million originally borrowed" after costs had been paid.

The company said that it had spent several million pounds pursuing the case through the courts but it is understood that Mr Goodman stands to receive several million as a result of his successful action.

In 1990, ABP Holdings lent £20 million to Mr Kenny who was a client of Mercantile Credit, a Dublin bank. The money was borrowed from Barclays Bank. Mr Goodman and ABP have maintained they never met Mr Kenny and all dealings where carried out via a third party who was acting for Mr Kenny. At the time, Mr Kenny was a father of seven in his mid-50s with a 100acre dairy farm near Roscrea.

The loan was supposed to be guaranteed by Mercantile Credit, but when Mr Kenny did not repay the loan it emerged that the formal guarantee was never issued. The money was traced through various bank accounts to a Bank of Cyprus account in the name of Mr Nestor Hadjierodotou, the father of businessman Mr Andreas Kitalides. ABP obtained an injunction freezing the account, although the two men, along with South African businessman Mr Graham Hartman, contested Mr Goodman's attempts to reclaim his money.

According to the statement, Mr Hadjierodotou yesterday accepted Mr Goodman's claim on the money and said that the funds should be returned to ABP. He also confirmed that he had never met or had been involved in any dealings with Mr Goodman or his companies, according to the statement.