White Mountain Property

 25th January 2012

-Starts -

51 people from all over the UK and Republic of Ireland have attended a Marbella court today to ratify their lawsuit against Darragh MacAnthony, owner of Peterborough FC

MacAnthony, 35, and his former joint chief executives of MRI Overseas Property (MRI), Michael Liggan and Dominic Pickering, have been accused of ‘theft by swindle and misappropriation of funds’ in a claim by the claimants who say they lost more than half a million pounds in undelivered furniture five years ago.The Spanish judge has already considered the facts and believes that there is a case to answer The claimants have gradually come together over the last few years on an on-line support group, www.mri-sg.org which, at present, has over 1000 members. This is the first of a series of lawsuits the group plan to bring against MacAnthony who founded MRI.

A spokesperson for the group commented: “It has been a very long and difficult road to get our day in court but it has been worth it. Macanthony has helped himself to the life savings of a large number of honest, hard-working people. In many cases, this has had a really detrimental effect on their lives. We have had no help whatsoever from the Irish or British authorities and many of us have received threatening letters from MRI's legal representatives, Carter-Ruck, when we have tried to go public with this". The only real help has been from Sammy Wilson, MP, who asked for a debate in Parliament about this company.  The most galling thing in all of this is the belief that our money is being used to finance MacAnthony's football team, Peterborough Utd.  He has not skipped off to South America; he is very much a public figure. Once the case is formally up and running we will approach the FA to see if they think he is a 'fit and proper' person to own a Football League club.

Michele Norcup, 48 and one of the 51 claimants said:

"I am absolutely delighted that the Judge has ordered us to attend her court to ratify our cases, as I have complete faith in the Spanish legal system as a whole.The group have engaged the services of an impeccable law firm and are happy with this latest turn of events. I won't jump to any conclusion regarding this case that I might deeply regret,I'll leave that to Darragh MacAnthony.”In June 2011, MacAnthony wrote on his blog that this claim for ‘swindle and misappropriation’ had been ‘thrown out’ by the Spanish courts.

The allegations made in Spain follow what Northern Ireland MP Sammy Wilson described in the House of Commons in 2010 as a 'property fraud' where MRI, or related companies such as MRI Overseas Property, acted as the agent and developer.

In 2008, as a result of complaints against MRI, a tribunal held by the National Federation of Property Professionals said it was ‘appalled to hear of the company’s misleading business practices’. It issued fines of £5,000 and MacAnthony resigned his membership of the Federation.

The Costa del Sol property empire has all but vanished. An investigation traced MRI companies to an empty office in Madrid. Documents show that last October MacAnthony and Pickering, as directors, handed MRI Overseas Property Group to a Peruvian company, under the directorship of octogenarian Fernando Arespacochaga, which appears to have never traded.