By Niamh Ellis
The High Court has awarded ACC Bank Ireland Plc €3.27 million against four property investors while referring concerns about an apparently forged loan document and a fictitious P60 certificate to the Director of Public Prosecutions.
The case arose from borrowing used to purchase property at Moore Street/Bride Street in Loughrea, Co Galway. George and Evelyn Fahey and George and Catherine McGrath received a net €3,273,611 from the bank in June 2006 under a bridging arrangement originally presented as a €3.5 million facility.
ACC initially sought more than €4.2 million, including interest, and continuing interest of €1,386.24 per day. By the opening of the February 2010 trial, however, the bank abandoned all claims beyond recovery of the net amount actually advanced.
That change followed major concerns about a revised loan sanction letter dated 7 June 2006. All four defendants denied signing it. The bank later obtained an independent handwriting opinion concluding that the signatures were not theirs and accepted that they were not bound by the document's terms.
Further concern arose over a P60 purporting to show that George McGrath earned €89,952.35 in 2005. McGrath, a retired Garda who had served for 30 years, said his actual earnings that year were €24,951 and denied any involvement in creating the other document.
Despite those issues, McGrath accepted in evidence that the bank had lent the money and that the defendants were obliged to repay it. Mr Justice Peter Kelly held that the bank's alternative claim for money lent was properly pleaded and proved.
Judgment was therefore entered for €3,273,611, with no interest and no order for the bank's costs.
The judge stressed that the apparent forgery and P60 issue required investigation. He referred the papers to the DPP. The judgment makes no finding as to who created either document or whether any criminal offence was committed.