DERMOT Desmond and Pepper Canister nominees have resolved their dispute with the Cork based surveyor, Mr Gerard Walsh, over ownership of shares in United Property Holdings Ltd (UPH), one of the property companies at the centre of the 1991 "Telecom affair".
Mr Walsh's lawyers told the High Court yesterday the issue had been resolved and an agreed statement was read out. Mr Walsh, who had claimed ownership of 10 per cent of the company, "now concedes and acknowledges that he had not any entitlement to any shares or interest therein in United Property Holdings Ltd".
UPH was one of the companies involved in the controversial purchase by Telecom Eireann of the former Johnston Mooney and O'Brien site in Ballsbridge, Dublin, in 1991 for £9.4 million.
UPH had originally owned the site along with a number of other properties in Dublin. UPH, was set up by Mr Desmond in 1988 and bought the former bakery site for £4 million in November, 1988. Nine months later it sold it at a profit of £2 million to a complex consortium of offshore companies, which eventually sold it on to Telecom Eireann.
A High Court inspector appointed to investigate the affair, Mr John Glackin, concluded that Mr Desmond controlled these offshore companies and was "financially interested in them".
Mr Walsh, in a statement of claim, said he became involved with Mr Desmond in property investment in the Dublin market in 1988. UPH was set up and, Mr Walsh claimed, in consideration of having assisted in promotion, management and finding investors, Mr Desmond agreed to acquire 10 per cent of the company and hold it in trust for Mr Walsh.
Mr Desmond has always denied that Mr Walsh had any entitlement to the shares.
The statement read out in court yesterday contradicts the finding of Mr Glackin, who investigated the ownership of UPH as part of his report. Mr Glackin concluded that Mr Walsh was entitled to 10 per cent of the ordinary shares of UPH and that Mr Desmond, through a company called Pepper Canister Nominees, held them in trust for Mr Walsh.
Neither side was prepared to expand on the statement issued yesterday.
The statement read out in court went on to say that Mr Walsh consented to a declaration in terms of paragraph 18(a) of the defendants' counter claim which was that he held no interest in any shares in UPH held by either of the defendants.
The hearing in the High Court had been expected to take two weeks but, following out of court talks lasting some hours between lawyers for the sides yesterday, Mr John MacMenamin SC, for Mr Walsh, said the matter had been resolved.
A number of high profile businessmen, who were investors in UPH, were due to be called as witnesses. Other shareholders in UPH were Mr Martin Naughton and Mr Lochlann Quinn of Glen Dimplex and Dr Michael Smurfit.
Mr Walsh claimed Mr Glackin, a solicitor, was appointed by the then Minister for Industry and Commerce, Mr Des O'Malley, to investigate and report on the membership of Chestvale Properties Ltd and Hoddle Investments Ltd, two of the offshore companies involved in the transactions. In his final report of July 1993, it was claimed Mr Glackin concluded as a matter of fact that UPH was a party financially interested in the success or failure of Chestvale.
When the case was before the court last March, Mr MacMenamin said the dispute centred on what deal was made between Mr Walsh and Mr Desmond and what were its consequences. Mr Paul Gallagher SC, for the defendants, said Mr Walsh's claims were "hotly contested" by his clients.
