Erroneous story regarding legal action in Dubai

I was notified today of a story which appeared in relation to a legal client of mine, the Dublin law firm Anthony Joyce & Co, and two groups of investors whom I also represent. The story appeared on AIB’s ForEx news site after it was fed in via a feed from BusinessWorld.com. The story was written by BusinessWorld but with confusion over two different legal groups of investors and two separate actions.

Here are the corrections from the errors in the story below, which has now been taken down by AIBForEx and Business World, but may have been picked up by investors earlier.

1. Anthony Joyce is currently representing a group of investors called KRI, these are investors in the Kensington Royale Development in Sports City. He is no longer representing the Concerned Dubai Sports City Investors Group, more recently known as the Dubai Action Group, and they are in no way connected to the current action being undertaken by the firm.

2. Whilst Anthony Joyce is currently liaising with MED there are no plans for him or any representative of his firm to travel to Dubai.

3. KRI does not consist of two separate groups, from the Republic of Ireland and Britain, they consist of investors from eight different countries across the globe.

4. At the moment no developer in Dubai is being sued by Anthony Joyce & Co, the KRI Group, or the Dubai Action Group / Concerned Dubai Sports City Investors Group.

If anyone requires any details on either of the parties concerned above then please contact Simon Palmer of Republic PR.

This was the story that appeared….

Irish investors sue Dubai developers

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Kensington Royale, Dubai Sports City – Middle East Development LLC

Along with solicitor Anthony Joyce,  I recently met investors from all over Ireland whom have bought property in the Kensington Royale development in the Dubai Sports City development, which is being marketed by MED (Middle Eastern Development LLC).

'Progress' shot from MED's website July 2010 (please click image to zoom)

The investors agreed to form an action group and appoint Anthony Joyce to act on their behalf and Republic to help them with the media and promotion to other investors on line. This is the sixth overseas property group Anthony Joyce are representing.

The action group is now successfully taking shape and we are receiving multiple daily requests from other investors in Kensington Royale who want to get involved. We have been contacted by over 30 investors from numerous countries around the world.

Anthony Joyce has now contacted MED and is seeking answers and exploring the groups options.

If any further investors would like to join the Group then please contact me on simon@republicpr.ie or telephone on +353 1 282 2504. For further details please see http://www.republicpr.ie.

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Property firm Flash Developments faces court probe

This is an article from The Sunday Business Post relating to a court probe into Flash Developments and possible use of investors’ deposits to run the firm.

Sunday, June 27, 2010 - By Ian Kehoe

The High Court has ordered an investigation into property company Flash Developments, after evidence emerged that the company may have used deposits from buyers to finance the running of the firm.

It has also emerged in court documents that the company, which is headed by businessman Ciaran Maguire, may not have title over land in Cape Verde, where it had proposed to build a €100 million property scheme.

Flash has taken deposits from more than 200 prospective buyers, but has not signed any contracts in relation to a proposed development.

The company went into liquidation earlier this month, but Maguire insisted that all deposits were safe and the development would go ahead through another company called the Ciaran Maguire Group.

However, documents filed last week by the liquidator, KPMG accountant Kieran Wallace, said that Flash appeared ‘‘to have financed the general running of the company’’ from the deposits it received, rather than place them on secure deposit.

‘‘From our initial investigations, it does not appear that the company has title to land, nor have any contracts been signed by the company,” the liquidator added.

During a High Court hearing last week, Ms Justice Finlay Geoghegan drew attention to the two claims and said they should be investigated by Wallace.

The judge adjourned the matter for four weeks, to give the directors of Flash time to file a detailed statement of its assets and liabilities.

A number of people who paid deposits to Flash for apartments and villas have already sought the return of their money, while others are putting together an action group to try to recover their money, following a 16month delay in starting the project.

Maguire has insisted the project will go ahead through the new company.

He said last month that the first phase of the development was valued at €100 million and would include a five-star hotel.

Maguire said he had a 15-year licence with the Cape Verde government to build on the island, and that he would ultimately build developments valued at €1.8 billion.

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Cape crusader “Work on €1.8bn resort to go ahead”

In The Sunday Business Post today my client the Dublin law firm Anthony Joyce & Co received an very quick response from Flash Developments, to their appointment to represent investors who bought units in their Cape Verde development, the Palm View Resort. They are currently in the process of confirming the details on the proposals and will report back as soon as possible. Below is  a link to article and a full transcript of the details.

http://www.sbpost.ie/news/ireland/work-on-18bn-resort-to-go-ahead-48691.html

The Sunday Business Post:

Work on €1.8bn resort to go ahead

18 April 2010 By Ian Kehoe

The developer of a €1.8 billion resort in Cape Verde has insisted that building work has started on the project, despite moves from some investors to recover money they put into the project.

Flash Developments, which is headed by Ciaran Maguire, has received deposits from more than 200 Irish and British investors for apartments and villas in the planned Palm View resort.

Following a 16-month delay in the project getting full planning permission, a number of the investors are putting together an action group to recover their money, Anthony Joyce, a Dublin solicitor, has been retained by the investors to look into the finances of Flash Developments and the Palm View project.

Joyce previously represented an action group that recovered funds from property firm Kuvera Ireland.

Maguire said he had arranged to meet Joyce on Thursday to explain the situation, and would present the solicitor with all relevant paperwork and financial information. He said he understood that a number of purchasers were ‘‘peeved’’ by the delays, but said the firm had started full construction work on the development in the past two weeks.

He said phase one of the development was valued at €100 million and would include apartments and a five star hotel. Maguire said Flash had a 15-year licence with the Cape Verde government to build on the island, and would ultimately build developments valued at €1.8 billion over that time.

Maguire said that 60 per cent of the first phase was sold out, but said there had been ‘‘slippage’’, with 11 per cent of purchasers pulling out due to delays. He said that he was in the process of repaying all their deposits, and hoped to complete the process shortly.

He said that the money had been invested through bonds which were guaranteed by a British company called Exchange Insurance. However, he said this company had gone into administration, and he was forced to repay all the money personally.

‘‘I have €10million in worthless bank bonds, but I will honour all the deposits personally,” he said. Maguire said he had funding with a British bank to finance the development.