‘Fraudster’ is advising campaigners on court battle

A CONTROVERSIAL Irish businessman – branded a ‘fraudster’ by a Jersey court – is acting as a volunteer adviser to a group representing hundreds of businesses that want to sue the Royal Bank of Scotland.

Gerard Walsh, 60, is advising the GRG Action Group on its planned legal action on behalf of small firms which say they were mistreated by the lender.

This follows the success of an earlier organisation, the RBOS Shareholder Action Group, which Walsh co-founded.

He was a director of the shareholder group until he was made bankrupt in September 2011. Subsequently he became an adviser.

That action group won a £200million settlement for 9,000 individual investors.

They claimed they were misled in an exercise to raise capital by RBS during the financial crisis in a landmark case that was seen as paving the way for more group actions.

Mr Walsh was labelled a ‘fraudster’ by the Jersey Royal Court in 2014 when he was said to have induced the family owners of Irish haulage firm Nolan Transport into putting their money into various investments, leading to huge losses.

Court documents state that when he met the Nolans in 2002 he was an apparently successful and prosperous man, running a substantial private investment business.

‘As we find, however, the true position was very different,’ the document goes on to say. ‘On the evidence presented to us we conclude that by 2005 at the latest, Mr Walsh was, or had become, a fraudster.’

Sources close to Walsh said he denies wrongdoing, that he was neither a witness nor a defendant in the case and did not have the opportunity to contest the findings.

The GRG Action Group, which has lined up leading QC Lord Pannick to lead its case, said: ‘Gerard Walsh is not a director of our Group and has no executive role in it. He is not a member of the Group. He has not been paid by the Group, nor does he have any contract with us.

‘We have asked for his advice from time to time on limited matters relating to our dispute with RBS.

‘This is because few people have a better track record of successfully litigating against RBS. His suggestions help our members as they seek redress from a very powerful and cynical adversary.

‘We are grateful for the advice Gerard has given as a willing volunteer, which relates to matters such as what sort of barristers and forensic accountants we should use. The members were aware of what had been written about him in the past, just as they were aware of his experience in successfully fighting RBS.

‘The limited help he has given to us relates entirely to fighting RBS and poses no risk or concern to the Group or its members.’