A 10-bedroom house standing on 11 acres which was put up for public auction yesterday by order of the High Court was sold for an undisclosed sum, believed to be in the region of £1.1 million. The owner of the house is serving a five-year prison sentence for fraud and money-laundering.
The auction of The Priory, Ballymore, Cobh, took place at Silversprings Moran Hotel in Cork and was attended by four main bidders. When bidding reached £1.05 million, the auctioneer, Mr Robert Ganly, withdrew the house and went into private session.
It was announced later that the property had been sold, but Mr John Jermyn, the solicitor acting for the anonymous purchaser, declined to name his client or state the purchase price.
The former owner of the house was Maria Bernadetta Jehle, a Swiss national who was convicted at Cork Circuit Criminal Court in 1998 of fraud and money-laundering involving a sum of up to £800,000. She is serving a five-year prison sentence.
At Jehle's trial, witnesses from seven countries gave evidence. It is understood that one of the people who lost most in the money-laundering was a German national, Mr Klaus Wiese. He and a French dentist, Mr Patrick Gueniot, are owed £290,000.