Probation Act applied over accounts

Sinn Féin's finance chief is director of a number of companies which failed to keep proper books

Sinn Féin's director of finance and personnel, Des Mackin, is director of a number of companies against which the Probation Act was applied in the District Court in Dublin yesterday.

Mr Mackin could not be contacted for comment on the case where the companies were the subject of 29 charges involving the failure to keep proper books of account during a four-year period.

The case was taken against the companies by the Office of the Director of Corporate Enforcement.

Mr Mackin, who lives in Dundalk , Co Louth, is a director of a number of companies with Peter Curistan, of Belfast, who controls the companies. Some of the companies are part of a group, with the ultimate parent company being Sheridan Developments, which has an address in the British Virgin Islands.

Many of the companies have their registered office at the Parnell Centre in Parnell Street, Dublin, which was built by Mr Curistan's Sheridan group. It was sold to a group of investors as a tax investment soon after it was completed in the 1990s.

Seven of the companies pleaded guilty to the offences at a district court hearing in December and the application of the Probation Act was confirmed yesterday after the court was shown a receipt for a €5,000 donation to the charity, Alone.

Alone is a voluntary organisation catering for the needs of the elderly in Dublin.

The companies concerned were: Century City Ltd; Strike Four Ltd; Flix Restaurants Ltd; Daylong Ltd; Sheridan Simulation Ltd; Sheridan Theatres Dublin Ltd; and Grovepark Properties Ltd.

A number of businesses located in the Parnell Centre over the years have failed to prosper. Last week, a licence was granted to UK nightclub owner Peter Stringfellow to run a strip club on the premises. The latest accounts for Strike Four, which ran a restaurant that closed in 2000, show it had accumulated losses of €2.52 million at the end of September 2004. The loss for the year was €447,485.

The main cost incurred by the company during the year was described as "occupancy and administrative expenses".

Mr Mackin joined the board of the company in 2003 and held no shares, according to the accounts.

In its report the auditors, Horwath Bastow Charleton, said the evidence available to them had been limited as they were unable to establish if proper books and records were kept by the company and "we have not obtained all the information and explanations that we considered necessary".

The auditors resigned in September.

Century City operates an amusement arcade in the Parnell Centre. Its latest accounts show it made a loss of €869,460 in the year to end September 2002.

The loss is more than double that made the previous year and, in the accounts, the directors express their disappointment.

Mr Mackin became a director in 2003, according to the accounts. Again the auditors state they did not get all the information they required in relation to the company and were unable to establish if proper books were kept.

The accounts state that, in the two years to end September 2002, the company incurred occupancy and administrative expenses of €1.24 million.