MISSING broker Mr Tony Taylor's wife was represented in court last week, when a repossession order was granted to the National Irish Bank which holds the mortgage on the couple's home in Dublin. Ms Taylor stands to gain around £150,000 if she gets some of the proceeds of the property sale.
A solicitor, acting on behalf of Ms, Taylor, offered to pay two months mortgage arrears on the property, but it was refused. The house, in its own grounds on Anglesea Road, is expected to make in excess of £400,000 at auction next month.
The mortgage is understood to be in excess of £100,000. Once the bank is paid its monies, it will seek the direction of the court as to what to do with the remainder. The mortgage is held in the couple's joint names.
Mr Taylor, who disappeared at the end of August, following a Department of Enterprise & Employment investigation into his companies' affairs, is believed to be out of the country. His wife went with him.
Last night a Garda spokesman said the Fraud Squad, which is investigating the collapse of the Taylor companies, had not yet located Mr Taylor. He said gardai are anxious to interview Mr Taylor and have received several complaints concerning his businesses, but declined to say how many.
The St Vincent de Paul is one of those which make a complaint to gardai. It invested £185,000 through Mr Taylor and the money is now unaccounted for.
It is understood that the total amount of clients' funds missing is now most likely to be around £2.1 million, not quite as high as the £2.5 million previously mooted. However, as several clients used to get regular updates from Mr Taylor on how much their investments increasing in value, they may have felt they have lost more.
Some sources believe that most of the missing monies were invested in funds which performed badly. As clients sought to reclaim funds, monies were transferred from other accounts.
It is understood that the Taylor companies' liquidator, Mr Paddy McSwiney, of BDO Simpson Xavier, has received 17 complaints from clients whose funds are missing.
Representatives from US fund managers Fidelity and British fund management company Gartmore were in Ireland recently to work through the various client files with the liquidator. The Taylor companies had around £15 million under management with Fidelity and £5 million with Gartmore. The monies which were invested are safe, but it is understood that the fund managers wanted to verify the accounts and the identities of the investors.
Fidelity has a court order from, the Royal Court of Jersey to freeze Taylor's client accounts until November 19th. A company spokesman declined to say last night whether the company would seek a further extension of the order.
"We are working as fast as we can to clarify every client's position," he said.
BCP Stockbrokers has bought Taylor's client list from the liquidator. BCP's chairman, Mr James Buckley, said several former Taylor clients had already contacted BCP about managing their funds. It will be some time before BCP can ascertain exactly how many clients agree, to transfer their files to BCP.