A former director of Mr Finbarr Ross's failed International Investments Ltd (IIL) agreed yesterday that it was irresponsible for a liquidator not to follow up on company assets which had been frozen.
Mr Ronnie Vincent told Belfast Crown Court that after the original liquidator had been replaced by the committee of inspection he would have expected the replacement to follow up on the work already done.
The new liquidator's agents in the US and Ireland had not done that and, as a result of the injunctions, the banks had foreclosed on developments which were sold off, meaning depositors lost their investments.
The witness agreed that had the original liquidator Mr Timothy Revill been left in position, it would have been important to ensure that IIL had an active part in ensuring the continuation of the US developments.
Mr Vincent said, had Mr Revill continued as liquidator, he would have returned to Dublin and attempted to take control of the assets he had frozen to maintain the impetus.
And he agreed that a lot of the valuations had been placed on property by an individual in whom the liquidator had no confidence.
Mr Vincent was giving evidence in the trial of former financier Mr Ross (54), who denies 41 charges of false accounting and misleading investors in 1983 and 1984. The hearing has been adjourned until Monday.
