Re: Rip Off Ireland - Reviews
In my opinion, Eddie made one big mistake in this whole issue. As an employee of Taylor Investments, he accepted a directorship without having access to the accounts. He was a director for 18 months up to the date of the fraud. He did sign off accounts during this period, which he should not have done. That was the late 1980's when this was commonplace. He was totally ignorant of what his boss was doing. Like many others, he trusted Tony Taylor. This was not unreasonable. Tony Taylor was a very public figure who had set up the Irish Brokers Association and was very well known and highly regarded. We are less trusting these days.
Taylor fully supported Eddie in his campaign on endowment mortgages so it did look like Taylor was a good guy. When I was campaigning against the demutualisation of the Irish Permanent, I got very little public support. I got a phone call out of the blue from Taylor, whom I had never met, encouraging me. I got great encouragement as this was the only support I got from an industry insider whom I would have had respect for at the time. I can see how Eddie would have trusted and liked the guy.
I gather that most of the fraud involved keeping some customers' accounts at home. The money never ever went through Taylor Investments books, so Eddie would have had great difficulty in knowing that there was a fraud taking place.
According to David Murphy in and Irish Independent report in August 1999:
An affidavit lodged by the liquidator of the Taylor group with the High Court, and which has not yet been publicly opened, is believed to say that none of the officers, management and staff of the company could have had knowledge of Taylor's activities. Mr Hobbs said that he was ``outraged'' when he heard that one of the investors which had lost money was the St Vincent de Paul, and he became determined to track down Taylor.
When he became aware of the problem, he was totally open and honest in his reaction to it. He assisted the authorities proactively in resolving the issues.
Some months later, he was one of the first people, if not the first person, to be appointed as an Authorised Advisor. I think it was the Central Bank who made those appointments, so they were happy with him. That is good enough for me. If the Central Bank had any doubts about Eddie, they would not have allowed him to continue working in the industry.
He used his own funds to locate Tony Taylor.
Just to restate for the record:
The Central Bank granted Eddie Authorized Advisor status.
IFSRA has renewed this each year.
The High Court did not restrict Eddie as a director.
No creditor has taken any action against him
No criminal or civil charges were taken against him
He was appointed by the Minister for Finance to the IFSRA Consumer Panel
He was appointed by the Minister for Entrprise to the Consumer Strategy Group.
His only "guilt" is by association and his detractors have really milked this.
