Money totalling €66 million was transferred out of a company behind the Nuremore Hotel & Country Club in Co Monaghan to related entities, the High Court has been told.
The High Court’s Ms Justice Miriam O’Regan said on Monday that there was an “abundance of reasons” to support her order appointing a liquidator to Huawen Foundation Ltd, which, the court heard, appears to be the parent of a subsidiary that owns the hotel.
She confirmed the appointment of insolvency practitioner Declan DeLacy as liquidator to Huawen after concluding “very concerning issues” had been raised about the company.
Chinese businessman
She was told Huawen’s sole director, Chinese businessman Kai Dai, had listed a golf clubhouse as his address on company documents and has not provided the firm’s books and records to Mr DeLacy despite being ordered to do so by the court.
Barrister Neal Flynn, instructed by Peter Boyle & Co Solicitors, for Mr DeLacy, told the court that, over the firm's lifespan, some €66 million has been transferred from Huawen’s bank account to related companies.
Mr DeLacy’s provisional report on the affairs of the company indicated more than €85 million was paid into the firm’s bank account during its lifetime, with virtually the same amount paid out by last August.
The court heard Huawen’s only remaining asset is the issued share capital of the hotel, which it holds through Nuremore Hotel Management. That company, also controlled by Mr Dai, is the subject of a separate winding-up petition brought by some of its creditors.
The hotel and country club in Carrickmacross did not reopen after it closed for renovations before Christmas.
Insurance
Mr DeLacy, then acting as provisional liquidator, had to take out emergency short-term insurance as the hotel was not insured, Mr Flynn said. Mr DeLacy attended at the hotel, which appeared to be abandoned at short notice, to secure it and arrange for the removal of food that was left to rot in the hotel kitchens.
The petition to wind up Huawen was presented to the court by barrister Brian Conroy on behalf of Yan Wang, a Chinese citizen who, along with her husband, invested €1 million in the firm, so they could avail of Ireland’s Immigration Investor Programme.
The scheme, terminated by the Government last month due to alleged abuses, enabled foreign citizens to be eligible for a visa to reside in Ireland on the basis of a minimum €1 million investment in Ireland.
Ms Wang, who lives in Sallynoggin, Dublin, said she and her husband contacted Mr Dai, who guided them through the investor programme process and recommended doing so by issuing a €1 million loan note to his Huawen company.
The loan note was due for repayment in July 2020 but, despite numerous requests for repayment, it has not been paid, she said.
On Monday, the court also permitted the Revenue Commissioner to take over the petition application relating to Nuremore Hotel Management, which owes it some €680,000 in tax arrears.
Revenue’s counsel, Arthur Cunningham BL, asked for some time to enable his client to file an amended petition.
Ms Justice O’Regan adjourned that matter for three weeks.
