TD's Concerns Over Zoe Ruling

A Fine Gael TD has raised further concerns over the proposed NAMA scheme following a high court ruling on the case of a troubled developer.

Enterprise Spokesman Leo Varadkar said the Zoe ruling exposed "the conspiracy of silence at the heart of the Government's bailout of bankers and developers".

He was speaking after the High Court ruled against appointing an Examiner to the Zoe Group of companies.

Justice Clarke said that the accounts presented by Zoe - who argued its property portfolio would recover in three to five years - were "plain wrong" and had "very many inaccuracies".

Mr Varadkar said: "Just like NAMA, Zoe's figures don’t add up. That is what the High Court's confirmation of its original refusal to grant the Zoe companies protection from ACC banks means.


"The whole case also reveals the conspiracy of silence that now exists between the Government, large Irish banks and big developers," he claimed.

"Despite the fact that Carroll is unable to give any credible evidence whatsoever that his companies can recover and repay their debts, six of the seven banks that have lent about €1bn to his companies, including the State-owned Anglo Irish Bank, were willing to roll over his interest payments and give him more time."

The TD suggested banks do not want to publicise the likely huge losses that will made on these loans "before they pass them over to NAMA and the taxpayer".

"Only ACC, which is likely to be left out of NAMA because it is foreign-owned, has decided to reveal the true extent of the insolvency of one of Ireland’s biggest developers," he said.

"The whole saga has laid bare the fatal flaw underpinning NAMA – the absence of any credible evidence whatsoever to suggest that property prices are only temporarily depressed and will recover their recent losses."

(PR/GK)