‘Golden visa’ company owed €48m to loan note holders

*An insolvent cash-for-visa company owed €48 million to loan note holders at the time it was put into liquidation by a creditor last month, the High Court heard on Monday.

Huawen Foundation, owned and operated by Chinese businessman Kai Dai, helped foreign citizens to obtain Irish visas through Ireland’s Immigrant Investor Programme before the scheme was terminated by the Government earlier this year.

Some €66 million was transferred out of the company over its lifetime to other connected entities, the court heard last month. Its sole remaining asset was the issued share capital of Nuremore Hotel Management. This was the operating company behind the hotel and country club of the same name in Co Monaghan.

On Monday, the Revenue Commissioners – to which Nuremore owes more than €682,000 in unpaid taxes – applied to have Declan DeLacy of PKF O’Connor, Leddy & Holmes confirmed as official liquidator to Nuremore, having previously been appointed as official liquidator to Huawen and provisional liquidator to Nuremore.

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The tax authority had been switched in as the petitioner over Riga Kondrate, a former chef de partie at the hotel. Ms Kondrate petitioned the High Court in March to have the hotel company wound up on the basis that it had closed before Christmas without reopening, leaving staff unpaid for a period of three months.

The court heard the company had subsequently paid Ms Kondrate’s debt.

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The details of Huawen’s and Nuremore’s finances were set out a provisional report prepared by Mr DeLacy, which was read out in court on Monday by barrister Arthur Cunningham, for the Revenue.

In his report, Mr DeLacy said it was clear from his visit to the hotel that it had been “abandoned at short notice” and its water and electricity shut off. He arranged for the locks to be changed and the windows boarded up and put a temporary insurance policy in place for the property.

His analysis of Huawen’s bank statements, comprising some 580 pages of transactions, revealed inbound payments of more than €85.7 million and similar in outbound payments, leaving just €39 in the account at the time of Mr DeLacy’s appointment in April.

Huawen also owed some €48 million to creditors, who had invested in the company through loan notes issued by the business in order to obtain visas under the Immigration Investor Programme.

Mr Cunningham said it should be clear to the court why the Revenue Commissioners are so concerned about the hotel company and related entities.

Granting the tax authority’s application, Mr Justice Conor Dignam said he was satisfied that Nuremore could not pay its debts and gave Mr Dai 21 days to file a statement of affairs.

* This article was edited on Monday, May 8th.