By: Michael O’Farrell
Investigations Editor
DISGRACED banker Michael Fingleton has secured a €1m windfall by selling four exclusive Dublin 4 apartments that he bought 22 years ago with an undeclared loan from Irish Nationwide. Mr Fingleton bought the four Mespil Estate apartments in 1992 for just under £170,000 when he was chief executive of Irish Nationwide.
The purchase was funded by a £110,000 loan – equal to two thirds of the purchase price – from his own building society.
Under the Building Societies Act 1989, all loans to connected persons by any building society had to be entered into the register.
But Mr Fingleton only listed the Mespil loan after it was revealed the following year by then Irish Times journalist Geraldine Kennedy.
Explaining the omission at the time, Mr Fingleton said Irish Nationwide had made an erroneous interpretation of the law.
In 2002, Fianna Fáil quietly changed the law and made it possible for other Fingleton loans to stay secret.
After Mr Fingleton’s decades of leadership, Irish Nationwide incurred the worst haircut of all the banks (72%) when its bad loans were transferred to Nama in 2010.
But his personal investments at the Mespil apartments have fared considerably better, allowing him to cash in on rising property values in Dublin. Land registry records show all four of Mr Fingleton’s Mespil apartments were sold in September and October.
According to the property register, sale prices ranged between €210,000 and €345,000 and totalled €1,046,000. However, it appears the proceeds will go towards settling a €13.6m judgment that Ulster Bank secured against Mr Fingleton in 2010.
The bank has registered the debt against all of Mr Fingleton’s Irish property assets, including the Mespil apartments – a move made after Mr Fingleton assigned his €3m home to his wife, Eileen.
Mr Fingleton’s other assets include two houses and a half share of two further units in Achill, Co. Mayo; two seaside apartments in Bundoran, Co.
Donegal; Dublin properties in Phibsboro and Leopardstown, development land in Baltinglass Co. Wicklow; and 150 acres of ‘amenity’ land suitable for forestry or wind farm development outside Castlebar, Co. Mayo.
Granting the judgment, Judge Peter Kelly described as ‘extraordinary’ Mr Fingleton’s failure to include his €27m pension in his list of assets.
In response, lawyers for Mr Fingleton described the omission as a ‘genuine error’ saying there was no intention to mislead.
Days after the judgment, Mr Fingleton moved €500,000 offshore to an account at the Atlas Mont Bank in Montenegro.
Weeks later, on January 21, 2011, this account was emptied when Mr Fingleton transferred most of the money to the London Barclay’s Bank account of his son, MichaelFingleton Jr.
In 2013 the MoS revealed that Fingleton Jr had become the landlord of a €12m London office block previously owned by bust Nama developer Seán Dunne. Fingleton Sr denied any involvement in the deal.
Mr Fingleton’s €4m share of the Hotel Fjord in Kotor, Montenegro, is the focus of a criminal investigation there after complaints from a fellow investor.
Mr Fingleton has still not returned the €1m bonus he secured when he departed Irish Nationwide and is now being sued for reckless trading and the return of the bonus by the IBRC. A ruling could come as early as next year.
