Mick Wallace may be barred from acting as company director

Independent TD Mick Wallace is facing court proceedings that could bar him from acting as a company director.

Promontoria Aran, a subsidiary of US vulture fund Cerberus, with which Mr Wallace has clashed regularly since mid-2015, had the TD declared bankrupt last month on foot of a €2 million debt it acquired from Ulster Bank.

High Court records show that Mícheál Leydon, the liquidator of the deputy's main building company, M&J Wallace Ltd, has begun proceedings to have Mr Wallace restricted and disqualified from acting as a company director.

The High Court appointed Mr Leydon, of Outlook Accountants in Dublin, as liquidator of M&J Wallace early last year following a petition from Promontoria Aran.

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Mr Leydon is taking proceedings against the directors of M&J Wallace, Mr Wallace and his son, Sasha, under sections 819 and 842 of the Companies Act, 2014, which allow liquidators to ask the court to restrict or disqualify individuals from acting as company directors.

Restrict

Section 819 allows a liquidator, receiver or director to ask the High Court to restrict someone who was a director of an insolvent company from fulfilling the same role with, or acting as secretary of, any other company for five years.

The court has to restrict the individual unless it is satisfied that they acted honestly and responsibly in relation to the insolvent business and that they co-operated as far as possible with the liquidator.

The restrictions don’t apply if the company has capital of more than €500,000 in the case of a public limited company or €100,000 the case of any other corporation.

Section 842 allows liquidators, receivers and others to ask the High Court to disqualify someone from acting as a director or company officer for whatever period it sees fit.

Behaviour

The court can disqualify people for various reasons relating to their behaviour while acting as company directors. The grounds on which Mr Leydon is taking the action have not been published. He, rather than Cerberus, is taking the case.

Mr Wallace has said several times that Cerberus is pursuing him because he has highlighted concerns over its €1.6 billion purchase of Nama's Northern Ireland loans for almost two years.

Asked on Monday if he had any comment in relation to the proceedings, Mr Wallace said that “nothing would surprise me at this stage”.

Mr Wallace said that he only discovered that the US fund had taken over his €2 million debt in August 2015, weeks after he had first voiced concerns about Project Eagle in the Dáil. Cerberus did not comment.