Marrache & Co to be wound up

GIBRALTAR
Gibraltar Chronicle/Dominique Searle) Chief Justice Anthony Dudley yesterday ordered the appointment of liquidators to wind-up Marrache & Co, the law firm at the centre of a major fraud investigation. The move is the consequence of petitions by a series of clients seeking the return of money they say is owed to them.>

And with the winding up of Christie Secretarial Services now also authorised by the court, it emerged that this company, through which Marrache & Co employed much of its staff, owed Gibraltar Government £265,574 in PAYE and Social Insurance.

The decision by the court yesterday to appoint liquidators now allows many employees to seek unemployment benefit and compensation from the insolvency fund.

In the case of Marrache & Co, petitioners included two local ladies in the mid 80s, Maria and Adela Abrines, who are seeking to recover some £500,000 from a property sale transacted through the law firm. They are represented by Charles Salter of Bullock and Co.

Charles Simpson of T&T also appeared for an Irish client whose original petition had set the case in motion. They are seeking to recover over of E2.1m and $5.6m Canadian dollars and trace a transfer of E3.87m.

It was also claimed by Mr Simpson that Marrache & Co had a £9m overdraft with Jyske Bank partly secured against a Queensway Quay property owned by a client trust.

An application by lawyer Chris Finch seeking an adjournment was rejected by the judge who decided that sufficient notice had been given to the parties. With no explanations being given nor repayments being made by the law firm or its partners Isaac and Benjamin Marrache, the Chief Justice said that it was "just and equitable" that the winding up of the Marrache & Co should proceed.

Edgar Lavarello, a partner in PricewaterhouseCoopers Gibraltar and Adrian Hyde, a UK accountant Chantrey Vellacott DFK are now the liquidators having previously acted as provisional liquidators.