Pensions Authority seeks removal of Dolphin Trust investment trustee State’s pensions watchdog has lodged proceedings with the High Court seeking the removal of Wealth Options Trustees 9th June, 2021
The corporate headquarters of German Property Group, formerly called Dolphin Trust, which filed for bankruptcy last July, leaving more than 1,800 small-time Irish investors fearing they will never see their money returned. Picture: Getty
The Pensions Authority has lodged proceedings with the High Court seeking the removal of the trustee company that managed the bust Dolphin investment where thousands of Irish people have lost money.
The state’s pensions watchdog is seeking the removal of Wealth Options Trustees Limited (WOTL) as the trustee of the Dolphin Trust investment in Ireland under powers afforded to it by the Pensions Act 1990, several sources said.
Some 40 financial broker firms whose clients were among over 1,800 Irish investors hit by the collapse of Hannover-based German Property Group (GPG) have set up an action group to deal with the liquidator of a Dublin vehicle linked to their investment as they seek to recover some of their money.
âUntil recently, individual firms have been working with their clients alone, but it was thought that a collective approach would be a more effective and efficient method of pooling information, and resources, which would better assist investors in their quest for redress,â the so-called GPG Redress Group said on Thursday.
âThe GPG Redress Group has been set up to support investors by engaging on their behalf, where authorised and appropriate, with all connected parties to the investment, including the Liquidator, the Pensions Authority, and the Department of Finance, among others,â it added.
A 78-year-old Cork woman has petitioned the High Court to wind up an Irish firm owned by a collapsed German property company.
Kathleen Dineen claims she is owed a total of €135,000 and, her counsel told the court, she “has been consistently fobbed off’ when she sought repayment of her loan note investment.
The German Property Group collapsed last year after taking more than €1bn from investors in Ireland, the UK, Asia and elsewhere.
Money had been raised from over 1,800 Irish investors by way of issuing loan notes for the purpose of buying and renovating listed buildings in Germany with promises of annual returns of as much as 15pc.
Charles Smethurst, who founded Dolphin Trust, with his wife Manou Lenz Pic: Getty
Wealth Options Trustees Limited, the Irish promoter and trustee for Dolphin Trust, where Irish investors fear they have lost millions, is to convene a series of meetings to discuss options and decision making.
In a letter sent to its Irish network of 144 brokers last Thursday, the firm said it planned to set up around 50 meetings involving Dolphin Trust’s 1,828 Irish investors, at a rate of three meetings a week over the next three.
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