A DEVELOPER with liabilities of more than €100 million has told the Commercial Court he hopes to get going in the construction business again.
Limerick businessman Gerard O’Rourke (50), founder of the Chieftain group, was before the court yesterday for cross-examination by lawyers for State assets agency Nama about his assets.
The cross-examination, before Ms Justice Mary Finlay Geoghegan, arose from an unsatisfied judgment against him for €21 million in favour of AIB over unpaid loans which have been acquired by Nama. The court heard a receiver was appointed last year to three Chieftain firms – Chieftain Construction Ltd, Chieftain City Campus Ltd, and Chieftain Developments Ltd – while two others, Chieftain Construction Ltd and Chieftain Construction Holdings Ltd, went into liquidation.
In a statement of affairs provided to the court, Mr O’Rourke said he had liabilities of about €101 million against assets of just €3.72 million. The liabilities arose from loans made by AIB, Bank of Ireland, Anglo Irish Bank, Bank of Scotland and Investec.
In reply to Gavin Ralston SC, for Nama, Mr O’Rourke said he had disclosed all his assets to Nama, was now working in South Africa, and hoped to get back into construction. “I don’t know what my future will be. I will have to wait until after these proceedings,” he said. His life over the next 10 years depended on whether Nama bankrupted him here, he added.
Mr O’Rourke, whose family home is at Mill House, Ballyclough, Co Limerick, said he was living and working outside Ireland for more than 200 days a year. A noted yachtsman, he gave his UK address as care of the Royal Ocean Racing Club, St James’s Place, London.
He said he has no contracts at present but hoped to use his expertise to secure new projects such as affordable and social housing in Africa. He was unable to tender for projects due to a lack of security to bond them, he said. Any new venture would require partners or investors.
Mr O’Rourke told counsel he spent a lot of time in South Africa trying to sell residential developments built by a Chieftain company but taken into ownership by investors in the company. The investors had employed him to sell the residences and were to pay him a percentage of the sales, he said. To date, he had earned €24,000 plus expenses.
He said he had included details of all his assets in his statement of affairs, had “nothing to hide” and wanted to “co-operate with Nama”. Mr O’Rourke accepted he had not included in that statement a boat owned by one of his companies, Chieftain Racing, valued at €500,000 to €900,000. He said he omitted the boat because it was now a negative asset which he had given to an agent of Lombard Bank, which has security on it, to sell. He expected it to sell for about €400,000.
He undertook to provide Nama with details, including payments related to bank accounts. He said he would provide invoices for payments which he said were expenses for work done in South Africa paid through an Isle of Man-registered company, Chieftain Global Ltd. That company was not his but his daughter’s and had no assets of any significance, he said.