Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I tried to table an oral question in respect of this issue. It concerns a Ponzi scheme and a scam that caught out 1,800 pensioners. It was administered by Dolphin Trust GmbH, renamed the German Property Group. I am sure the Minister is familiar with the issue. The company's director, Mr. Charles Smethurst, promised people who invested their pensions with the company high interest payments and their capital back within a number of years. The whole plan was that the money would be used to build flat complexes on derelict sites in Germany and that the flats would be sold to German buyers. Many of the investments that were made and the properties to which it was suggested that the investments related do not exist. The reason this issue involves Ireland is because the centre of the operations was located here, in the State.

The administrative and marketing centre of this Ponzi scheme was Dolphin International Group Limited, which was based in Little Island, County Cork. In 2017, an agreement was concluded between Dolphin International and another company, Wealth Options Limited, which is based in Naas, County Kildare. In my view, they basically ensnared 1,800 individuals who in some cases put their life savings into the scheme and have lost everything. Between them, they have lost €107 million. While brokers facilitated the scheme and it was through them that investments were made, and brokers are regulated, the problem is that the companies I named as being at the centre of the Ponzi scheme and the loan notes they sold were unregulated. There are hundreds of millions-----