A CORPORATE examiner who sought fees equivalent to a €884,000 annual salary for investigating the viability of the insolvent Dublin private members club Residence has been told by the High Court to re-examine his rates.
Mr Justice Peter Kelly said fees of €425 an hour sought by Jim Stafford, of Friel Stafford Corporate Recovery, were not acceptable in the current climate.
The Residence club at St Stephen’s Green, owned by Dublin restaurateur brothers Simon and Christian Stokes, went into receivership on January 20th after Mr Justice Kelly had the previous week refused to continue court protection for it.
Mr Stafford would earn €884,000 a year if he worked a 40-hour week based on the €425 per hour rate he sought for 56 hours working as interim examiner of the club, Mr Justice Kelly said. He yesterday adjourned an application by Mr Stafford for total examinership costs of €61,857, plus €50,000 legal costs, for the examinership period after counsel for the examiner said he would provide further information on the costs sought.
He also questioned why five people (including Mr Stafford) were involved in an examinership when the High Court, allowing protection for a period on January 5th, had not granted any special powers to the examiner related to the day-to-day running of the club.
The judge also questioned the €50,000 legal bill sought for lawyers who represented the examiner during the three days the matter was before the court.
Dealing with the examinership application last month, Mr Justice Kelly strongly criticised the Stokes brothers’ management.
Their trading using employees’ tax money owed to Revenue was “a form of thieving”, he said.