Investors wanted a scapegoat, Alan Hynes tells tribunal

Alan Hynes, the former director of the now liquidated property venture Tuskar Asset Management (Tam) told a disciplinary tribunal yesterday that he acted at all times with "honesty, integrity and professional competence".

The Wexford accountant was giving evidence to a Chartered Accountants Regulatory Board disciplinary hearing into complaints against him in relation to Tam and other property ventures into which investors put millions.

He said the collapse of Tam was not due to anything he did or anything done by his accountancy firm, Alan Hynes and Co.

Tam went in to liquidation in 2009 owing about €50 million to banks. About 80 investors – 30 to 40 of whom were clients of Mr Hynes’s firm – lost their investments and many are being pursued for bank debts equal to their investments, based on personal guarantees signed on their behalf by Mr Hynes using powers of attorney.

On day 10 of the resumed hearings, Mr Hynes said the collapse of Tam occurred because a number of shareholders, holding 10 per cent of the company, sought the protection of the courts in October 2008.

He said once the examinership application was made, Zurich Bank withdrew from a proposed loan to Tam, and others soon followed suit. Bank of Scotland Ireland put in a receiver.

“It’s more than a shame, it’s a disaster,” Mr Hynes said. He said the investors “wanted to find a scapegoat” and this was why he was before the disciplinary tribunal. “There is a propaganda stunt now, trying to say that Alan Hynes is the cause of it all.”