Mr George Finbarr Ross, the Cork-born financier extradited from the US accused of duping investors, admitted yesterday that he was naive and felt "let down" by the professionals he worked with before his company, International Investments Ltd (IIL), collapsed.
He told his Belfast Crown Court trial: "I would say that I surrounded myself with the best professionals I could find. In retrospect . . . I was maybe naive in my perceptions."
Prosecutor Mr John Creaney QC asked Mr Ross if he particularly felt he was "let down badly" by his partner Mr Frank Murray in Dublin. "Well he certainly did not tell me the truth," replied Mr Ross, who added that if the original liquidator, Mr Tim Revell, had continued, it would never have happened.
Mr Ross, however, rejected Mr Creaney's assertions that he had run International like a "Peter-and-Paul" organisation whereby depositors were paid out of monies from new investors. Mr Ross claimed he was surprised to learn the company owed £7.32 million sterling (€11.92 million) to depositors by late 1982.
"Unless," he said, "in 1982 they took in a lot of new money I didn't know about or it [the accounts] was a mistake". But Mr Creaney pressed Mr Ross: "You were simply paying out the money that new depositors were paying in."
"I don't accept that," said Mr Ross, who claimed the prosecution's suggestions were little more than a "theory".
The trial continues today.
