Share trades questioned by Murtagh

The former director of the Kingspan building products group, Mr Brendan Murtagh, has questioned whether some of the share trades at the centre of a £4 million sterling (€6 million) High Court dispute should have been in his name.

Mr Murtagh is in dispute with the London stockbroking firm K&H Options in relation to an alleged debt of £4 million sterling arising from the collapse of the Dublin firm, MMI Stockbrokers, earlier this year.

The matter came before the High Court in Dublin yesterday and was put back to the first motion day of the next law term, in October, so as to allow time for a responding affidavit from K&H Options. Mr Murtagh, in an affadavit, questioned whether some trades made in his name should instead have been recorded as having been made by Colyton Ltd, an investment company in St Helier, Jersey, in the Channel Islands.

It is not known how much is at issue in relation to these trades. Earlier this month the motion was mentioned before the Master of the High Court, Mr Harry Mills SC, who said an "enormous amount of money, over £4 million sterling" had been due since September of last year.

Mr Mills was told Mr Murtagh had been aware of the claim since May but the matter had been complicated because of the liquidation of MMI Stockbrokers and the resultant difficulty regarding disclosure of documents. The case was subsequently remitted from the master's list to the High Court list.

MMI was wound up in March and an accountant, Mr Tom Kavanagh, was appointed liquidator. The High Court heard in March that there were assets relating to settled transactions totalling £3.5 million. These transactions involved clients who got their securities, with money being paid by MMI. However, the clients had not settled their accounts with MMI before it went into liquidation.

There were also "unsettled transactions" totalling £13 million. These transactions would not be a claim in the liquidation as "counter parties" (brokers who dealt with MMI) were being put in touch with the principals, i.e. the persons or organisations who bought shares through MMI.

K&H Options is one of the main counter parties with which MMI conducted business and it is now in the process of negotiating payments from approximately 100 principals. Mr Murtagh is the only principal to date against whom K&H has initiated legal proceedings.