THE Department of Enterprise and Employment inquiry into Taylor Asset Managers is now likely to focus on accounts handled by the company's founder and managing director, Mr Tony Taylor.
The company's staff and management moved to distance themselves from Mr Taylor yesterday in a statement issued to the media, but would make no further comment on the matter.
"The only investments on which questions remain to be answered are to do with accounts handled personally by Mr Tony Taylor," the management/staff statement said.
Mr Taylor was "out of the country and has not made himself available for comment," the statement added.
Earlier this week, Mr Taylor was said to be "travelling in the UK" but his exact whereabouts were unknown last night. Mr Taylor has not responded to several messages left on his mobile phone answering service, and telephone calls to his Dublin residence were not being answered.
The Department of Enterprise and Employment, which is conducting an inquiry into two complaints relating to Mr Taylor's business, is likely to make a formal statement on the matter before the weekend.
The complaints, which were sent initially to the Irish Brokers' Association (IBA), relate to two separate accounts with a combined value of almost £1 million. Mr Taylor was managing the funds on behalf of the two wealthy Irish private individuals. The two accounts involve transactions dating back at least six years.
The statement from Taylor Asset Managers came after The Irish Times first reported that the company was facing an IBA hearing over two client complaints.
The media reports of difficulties in the company "were the first indications that management and employees had that something was amiss", according to the company's staff and management. The employees of the company "are co operating fully with the Department of Enterprise and Employment", the statement said.
Staff at the company's Clyde Road premises in Ballsbridge were yesterday fielding a steady stream of telephone calls from the media and investors. Privately, staff said the two days since the first reports of an inquiry into the company had been difficult.
An authorised officer from the Department, which regulates investment intermediaries in the Republic, has been carrying out inquiries at the premises of Taylor Asset Managers since late last week and has taken copies of a number of documents for further evaluation.
The Department investigation is thought to be the first under the Investment Intermediaries Act 1995.
The IBA confirmed earlier this week that it had received complaints relating to Taylor Asset Managers and had requested "full and detailed answers" from the company. The IBA has declined to make any further comment on the matter. Mr Taylor's legal advisers, Dublin solicitors Crowley Millar, have declined to make any comment on the matter.
Earlier this week, it emerged that Taylor Asset Managers had lost its key international partner. Fidelity Investments. Fidelity, which had operated an exclusive agency agreement with Taylor, severed all links with the company last month. Fidelity said it ended the agreement because it wanted greater flexibility to market its investment products in the Republic.
