By: Michael O’Farrell
Investigations Editor
MICHAEL Fingleton travelled abroad to secure a €10million property sale at the same time he told the Central Bank he was too ill to attend its inquiry into Irish Nationwide, the MoS can reveal.
The Central Bank’s inquiry into alleged breaches of financial laws by Mr Fingleton and others at Nationwide has been repeatedly delayed due to Mr Fingleton’s stated ill health.
Mr Fingleton was due to begin giving testimony on January 9 last year, but instead sought an adjournment on medical grounds.
He has subsequently sought several further adjournments, presenting certificates from different medical professionals each time to certify his ill health.
However, as he was seeking the adjournments, Mr Fingleton appears to have been occupied with the sale of a €10million hotel in Montenegro.
Travelling to Montenegro involves either a three-hour flight from London or a three-anda-half hour flight from Dublin to Dubrovnik, followed by a drive of several hours.
Mr Fingleton first purchased Hotel Fjord in Kotor for €5.5million in a 2006 deal reportedly involving Veselin Vesko Barovic – an alleged cigarette smuggler and close associate of prime minister Milo Dukanovic.
Together with his partner – Louis Maguire – Mr Fingleton planned to develop a €70million five-star hotel with 220 rooms, 150 exclusive apartments, a luxury spa and a private marina.
The project failed to materialise as Mr Fingleton and Mr Maguire engaged in increasingly bitter litigation which ultimately saw Mr Maguire sidelined.
It is understood this inquiry is no longer active.
By the end of 2017, Mr Fingleton was in the final stages of securing a buyer for the Hotel – just as the Central Bank inquiry into Irish Nationwide held its opening hearings.
Mr Fingleton – who took and lost court action to prevent the inquiry – attended and gave an opening statement to the inquiry on December 12. During his opening statement he said he had always acted with ‘complete integrity and honesty’ as head of Irish Nationwide – which cost the taxpayer €5.4billion when it collapsed.
He also accused the inquiry of being ‘an artificially trumped up case’ to deflect blame from the Central Bank and the Department of Finance.
After his opening statement, Mr Fingleton never attended again due to illness – although he appears to have been able to travel to Montenegro to secure €10.5million via the sale of Hotel Fjord.
The contract for the hotel was signed by Mr Fingleton before notaries in Montenegro on January 24, 2018 – after he sent sick notes to scheduled hearings of the Central Bank inquiry on January 9 and 16.
Having secured the €10.5million in Montenegro on January 24, Mr Fingelton was again too ill to attend hearings on January 30.
The Fingletons did not respond to questions from the MoS this weekend but in previous statements to us Mr Fingleton Sr has defended his involvement in Hotel Fjord, saying any criminal allegations against him were ‘unfounded, without merit and completely false’.
‘All transactions in relation to this project to date were totally legitimate, fully transparent and fully funded by me from my own personal resources,’ he said.
It is not clear what Mr Fingleton – who has faced millions in judgements against him – did with the proceeds of the hotel sale.
But there are indications he may have sent the funds to the UK with the help of his son, Michael Jr, who once oversaw Irish Nationwide’s British operations.
In the months leading up to the sale Michael Jnr incorporated a firm called New Fjord Developments DOO Ltd in London and put all the shares in his father’s name.
This is the same name as Mr Fingleton’s Montenegrin firm which sold Hotel Fjord.
The address of New Fjord Developments DOO Ltd – which is now being threatened with being struck off for failing to file accounts – is a Twickenham office block that appears to be a development project of Michael Jr’s London property business.
The office block is owned by an anonymous Jersey firm and was purchased without recourse to any finance in 2016 for just under £2.4million.
Michael Jr has a history of involvement in such London developments, as well as his father’s affairs in Montenegro.
The former Dunne property, which is also owned anonymously offshore, was bought after Michael Fingleton Sr transferred two substantial cash amounts from Montenegro to the London Barclay’s Bank account of Michael Jr.
Mr Fingleton Jr also appears to be involved in the Hotel Kotor sale since the contact details provided for Mr Fingleton in the contract of sale includes an email address at Michael Jr’s London business.
Timeline To Sale Of Fingleton’s Hotel.
OCT 31ST 2017 – MICHAEL Fingleton’s Montenegrin firm New Fjord Developments DOO passes a resolution to sell Hotel Fjord in Kotor.
DECEMBER 12TH 2017 – Michael Fingleton appears before the inquiry into INBS to make an opening statement.
DECEMBER 25TH 2017 – The proposed buyers of Hotel Fjord – Boka Bay Investments – pass a resolution to purchase the hotel.
JANUARY 9TH 2018 – In Dublin, the Central Bank inquiry is scheduled to hear formal testimony from Mr Fingleton. He sends a doctor’s letter to say he is too unwell to attend. An adjournment is granted until January 16.
JANUARY 15TH 2018 – Mr Fingleton makes an application for a further adjournment on medical grounds and is granted another stay until January 30.
JANUARY 16TH 2018 – The inquiry cannot proceed as billed because of his illness.
JANUARY 19TH 2018 – Mr Fingleton provides Boka Bay Investments with the bank details to which the sale price for Hotel Kotor is to be paid.
JANUARY 23RD 2018 – Boka Bay provides Mr Fingleton with bank statements showing funds in place for the purchase.
JANUARY 24TH 2018 – Mr Fingleton – having told the inquiry he is too sick to attend – travels to Montenegro to sign the sale documents.
JANUARY 30TH 2018 – Mr Fingleton again fails to show for a scheduled appearance at the inquiry and sends a doctors note.
