Hynes complains of ‘spin’ on former investors’ evidence

Wexford accountant Alan Hynes has complained about the "spin" put on their evidence by two former investors in Tuskar Asset Management plc (TAM), a property company he was involved in establishing in 2006.

On day nine of the tribunal hearing into certain complaints against Mr Hynes (45), the Chartered Accountants Ireland member said he agreed with the timeline given by former investors Gary Morris and John Conroy, who both worked for an architects' firm with which Mr Hynes had had dealings. However he disagreed with the "spin" they put on events, he said.

“When the property market collapsed a number of people chose to revisit their journey,” he said.

Mr Hynes said 30 to 40 of the 80 investors who put money into TAM, which is now in liquidation, had been clients of his accountancy firm.

He told the tribunal that everyone who invested in TAM was given an investor pack that included warnings as to the risks involved and notice that investors would be asked to sign powers of attorney made out to Mr Hynes and to sign guarantees for loans taken out by TAM, capped at amounts equivalent to the sums invested.

A number of investors have complained that the powers of attorney were used to make them personally liable for borrowings equal to their investment, without their knowing this was being done.

Mr Morris, whom Mr Hynes said he had known since they were in school together, has told the tribunal his investment in TAM was made in September 2006, before any investor documentation was available, and that Mr Hynes had told him at the time that there was looming deadline.

Mr Hynes said he the money was lodged with a company called Tuskar Property Holdings Ltd (TPH), a company owned by Mr Hynes, because TAM did not have a bank account at that stage. The money was used for certain start-up costs associated with TAM.

Queried by chairman JP McDowell as to whether the money was spent before the share subscription and other TAM documentation had been drawn up, Mr Hynes said TPH had spent money and the money from Mr Morris “put TPH back in funds”.

“I saw no regulatory issue in terms of doing that as a chartered accountant,” he said. He said no funds had been diverted or no-one was misled and that TPH later made a transfer to the TAM account when it was opened. Mr Morris got a share certificate giving him a claim on TAM equal to his investment, he said.

He agreed that another investor’s €100,000 investment was paid over in June 2006. The money was put into the client account of Mr Hynes accountancy firm, Hynes & Co, for investment in TAM.

TAM has since been placed in liquidation and Mr Hynes has been disqualified by the High Court from acting as a company director for three years. The court as part of its ruling found that Mr Hynes had operated as a shadow director before being appointed a director.

Mr Hynes said the first TAM transaction was the purchase of the Iceland site in Dun Laoghaire, in early 2007, using €7 million of investors’ funds and an €18 million loan from Bank of Scotland Ireland. Powers of attorney were used by Mr Hynes to sign personal guarantees on behalf of the investors.

Mr Hynes said it was “not fair” that he was before the tribunal. He had a business that still had the potential to survive, subject to ongoing negotiations, “and this is the wrong forum for me to be in right now.”

The hearing continues.