Cafe brothers' €146,000 spending revealed in court

JUST MONTHS before their Bang Cafe restaurant in Dublin went bust with debts of €2.4 million, brothers Simon and Christian Stokes were spending up to €146,000 of the company’s money for personal expenses incurred at top hotels, restaurants and stores in Ireland, London, Denmark, New York and Barbados, the High Court has heard.

Personal bills incurred by Simon Stokes between January 2007 and June 2009 amounted to about €120,000 and were paid by credit cards of Mayfair Properties, which operated Bang Cafe until it was wound up in early 2010, Mayfair liquidator Tom Murray revealed.

The payments included €2,421 to the Coral Reef Club, Barbados; €1,891 to Blakes’ Hotel in London; €4,425 to the Gucci Store in New York; €2,277 to the Skovshoved Hotel, Denmark; €288 to la Quinta Golf Club.

Payments closer to home included €2,000 to the Professional Golfers Association in Blackrock; €2,621 to Brown Thomas in Dublin; €6,494 to Pia Bang Interiors in Dublin; €1,006 to Chapter One restaurant, Dublin; €2,795 to Ely HQ restaurant; and €821 to Ticketmaster.

Credit card payments in the name of Christian Stokes amounted to some €26,000 between January 2007 and June 2009 were also paid for by Mayfair. These included €12,440 to Aer Lingus, €3,835 to Ashford Castle, €2,091 to Maroma Resort Spa and €2,011 to the Skovshoved Hotel in Denmark.

This use of company credit cards, plus Mayfair’s outstanding €477,000 liability to the Revenue, was among 10 concerns of the liquidator outlined yesterday to Ms Justice Mary Finlay Geoghegan. Bernard Dunleavy, for the liquidator, said the brothers were consenting to orders under section 150 of the Companies Act restricting their activities as company directors.

Mayfair began trading in 1999 and operated Bang Cafe at Merrion Row, Dublin, until it was wound up in January last year. Mr Murray said he believed the directors, the Stokes brothers, improperly used money owing to the Revenue as a means of financing the business.

Mr Murray said the company should have been liquidated earlier as, from 2005 on, the directors had not financially supported it and in fact drew directors’ loans from it. PAYE and PRSI was not returned for employees on casual wages and the directors also failed to implement changes to the way the company administered tips and gratuities.