Hi °C | Lo °C Evidence to support Irish developer Liam Carroll's last ditch bid to save his property empire was severely criticised by a judge, before being rejected yesterday.
Mr Justice Frank Clarke questioned the “magic 100% cashflow” that directors of the beleaguered Zoe Group claimed they would have in the near future.
He questioned the quality of the report and said there were “many inaccuracies” in the evidence they were using to back their second application to appoint an examiner.
Independent advice was submitted to the Supreme Court in an attempt to save the €2bn (£1.75bn) property empire. But Mr Justice Clarke refused to appoint an examiner to the companies.
As a result of the ruling, the group, which has bank borrowings of €1.2bn, now faces collapse.
Zoe's petition was supported by all but one of the banks which were owed money.
Dutch-owned ACC Bank, which is owed €136m in unpaid loans, challenged the application stating that breathing space from the banks for over two years would only serve to roll out the debt and defer receivership. ACC insisted the companies had no chance of survival.
During the 90 minute hearing, the judge was critical of certain figures contained in an independent accountant's report. The report was compiled by David Wilkinson of KPMG.
That report said the firms had a reasonable prospect of survival as a going concern.
Mr Justice Clarke said that his own calculations on the figures presented showed there would be a €3m shortfall in income to the companies' outgoings. However the report had projected a surplus of €2.8m during the period of January to July in 2011.
“I've done the sums and frankly, to me it doesn't seem to add up,” he said.
Previously both the High Court and the Supreme Court in Dublin had refused to appoint an examiner to the firms on grounds they had failed to display evidence to show they had a reasonable prospect of survival.
Later today he will also hear an application by ACCBank to appoint a liquidator to the two holding companies in the group.
