Suspended Bloxham finance partner retains Dublin law firm

THE FINANCE partner of Bloxham Stockbrokers, who was suspended by the firm over accounting irregularities, has retained the law firm that represented staff in AIB Capital Markets in legal actions taken to recover unpaid bonuses in 2010.

Tadhg Gunnell is being advised by Dublin law firm McDowell Purcell in his dealings with the investigators examining the irregularities that led to Bloxham, the country’s oldest broker, ceasing all regulated activities last month.

The practice represented AIB trader John Foy in his High Court action against the bank in which it was ordered to pay him €160,000.

The Government subsequently blocked the payment of bonuses to other AIB staff represented by McDowell Purcell who were pursuing actions against the bank.

Mr Gunnell has met Central Bank officials with legal representation from the firm as the regulator and accountants KPMG investigate Bloxham’s accounting and reporting dating back to 2007.

The law firm said Mr Gunnell would be making no comment.

The High Court appointed provisional liquidator Kieran Wallace of KPMG to Bloxham on May 31st after the court was told the firm has a capital shortfall of €5.3 million. Mr Gunnell disclosed accounting irregularities to Bloxham’s partners on May 23rd.

Meanwhile, Patrick Dempsey, a another partner at Bloxham, told staff at the firm earlier this week that National Irish Bank’s refusal to allow the opening of a new account led to the decision by the partners to seek the appointment of a provisional liquidator.

Mr Dempsey told staff the firm had been asked by NIB to open a new account on Monday, May 28th following the sale of Bloxham’s asset management and private clients businesses to rival Davy over the previous weekend.

The bank subsequently prevented the opening of a new account, Mr Dempsey told staff in his e-mail on Monday. This led to the partners preparing a petition to seek the liquidation of the firm in the court. A spokesman for NIB said it could not comment on the matter because of client confidentiality. The bank, Bloxham’s biggest creditor, is owed €20 million.