Manager sees no conflict in dealings

A SENIOR AIB manager in Galway has said there is no conflict involved in his being personally active with property companies.

John Hughes, head of business banking with AIB, Eyre Square, Galway, said he did not wish to comment on the extent of his personal business dealings.

"If I'm doing anything inappropriate, there would be a conflict, but I'm not," he said to The Irish Times.

He said the bank had an ethics policy, and he would be “fairly aware of its terms, and I am compliant”.

He said his role in the bank involved him lending to a range of activities. He said he borrowed money from other banks for his activities and that he would be known to, and have a relationship with, other bankers.

“But everything would have to be signed off on, and to make sense,” he said.

As well as companies he is involved in with Dublin-based AIB manager Thomas Hopkins, Mr Hughes is also involved in a number of companies based in the west of Ireland.

Mr Hughes is a shareholder in and director of JKLM Property Development Ltd, a company with an address at Bushy Park, Galway, which banks with Ulster Bank, High Street, Kilkenny, and with the EBS at Burlington Road, Dublin 4. The company had fixed assets of €1.23 million at the end of June 2008, when shareholders’ funds were minus €83,745.

The company, which was incorporated in 2001, has mortgages with EBS and Bank of Scotland (Ireland) and is coded as a real estate development company in the Companies Registration Office (CRO).

The mortgages are registered against property in counties Dublin, Westmeath and Mayo.

Mr Hughes’s wife, Margaret, is a shareholder in and director of Donmar Construction, a company with an address “care of” Oran Pre-Cast Ltd at Deerpark Industrial Estate, Oranmore, Co Galway.

Donmar built eight apartments in Oughterard, Co Galway, four of which were bought by Mr Hughes.

The company banks with Ulster Bank, Eyre Square, Galway, and has a business relationship with JKLM. It has no mortgages registered.

The other director and shareholder in the company, Donal Dooley, Oranmore, Co Galway, is a director of and shareholder in Oran Pre-Cast Ltd. Oran Pre-Cast banks with AIB, Eyre Square, Galway.

Mr Dooley and Mr Hughes are directors of Moneenbradagh Management Ltd, a real estate management company with an address “care of” Oran Pre-Cast Ltd.

Mr Hughes was a shareholder in Hurevil Ltd, a now-dissolved company based in Blarney, Co Cork. It was established in 2000 and described itself as a holding company.

Mr Hughes held one third of the company’s shares. The other shares were held equally by Michael O’Regan, Blarney, Co Cork, and Michael Melville, Oranmore, Co Galway. There were no mortgages registered by the company.

The value of the company’s financial assets jumped from €380,921 in 2002 to €4 million in 2003. The value remained at that level up to March of 2006, after which the value dropped to zero, according to abridged accounts filed at the CRO.

There is no information in the accounts as to the bank used by the company, or explanation as to what the financial assets were.

Mr Melville is a director and shareholder of Oran Pre-Cast. The company describes itself as being involved in the development and sale of real estate, and has a mortgage from AIB on land in Co Galway.

Mr O’Regan is a director of a number of companies, some of which bank with AIB, Eyre Square, Galway.