A SITE that cost tax cheat Mick Wallace €4m is now worth only €350,000.

According to new documentation lodged with the Companies Office, a string of Mr Wallace's former properties have plummeted in value.

The figures, which were lodged by receiver Gerard McInerney of McInerney Saunders on behalf of AIB, place a combined value of €2.57m on the properties.

However, during the property boom, it is understood the properties would have realised €8.5m. At its peak, Mr Wallace's construction business was worth €80m.

However, despite his wealth, it later emerged that he deliberately under-declared €1.4m of VAT paid to his construction company. He was then hit with a €2.1m bill by the Revenue Commissioners.

He also claimed he once threatened to hire a hitman to recover a IR£20,000 debt from a building firm.

The documents show that Mr Wallace borrowed €4m from AIB to purchase a site at Moeran Rd, Walkinstown, Dublin 12, which has planning permission for 28 units. It is now valued at just €350,000.

Last September, the state-owned AIB seized a number of properties from Mr Wallace's M&J Wallace construction firm over what are understood to be millions in unpaid loans.

The seizure included shops and offices in the Quartiere Bloom, Mr Wallace's signature Italian-style development in Dublin city centre.

Authentic

Mr Wallace not only built the units but set up his own cafe, restaurant and shops in premises on the site to further his project of creating an authentic Italian atmosphere.

Mr Wallace has previously said he owes €40m to various banks. These are understood to include AIB, Ulster Bank, Bank of Scotland Ireland, as well as ACC.

The new documents lodged with the Companies Office show that apartments 1, 2, 5 and 6 at 43 East Essex St in Temple Bar in Dublin 2 were valued at €757,500 on September 25. Their former value topped €2.5m.

The filings also show two commercial units at numbers 3 and 6, Quartiere Bloom, Lower Ormond Quay, Dublin 1, are valued at €520,000.

It is understood that their former value would have been around €1m.

The receiver's extract also shows two office units on the 2nd floor, Block B, Quartiere Bloom, Ormond Quay, D1, valued at €260,000. It is understood that in the past, these units would have realised €1m.

The extract also values 37 North Lotts, Dublin 1, at €690,000.

No sales of the properties occurred in the period under review, September 25 last to March 24, 2013. The figures show that the properties achieved a rental income of €53,130 in the period.

In 2011, ACC Bank appointed its own receivers to a number of other Wallace properties. Receiver Declan Taite valued the ACC assets at an estimated €4m last year.

AIB was able to appoint its own receivers because it already had charges, or mortgages, over Wallace properties at the five locations in Dublin.

Mr Wallace said yesterday: "My dealings with AIB and with our banks are ongoing and as a result I am not in a position to comment."

Irish Independent