Kevin O Kane confirmed plans

A County Londonderry man at the centre of an alleged £2.5m property scam in Turkey is seeking the lifting of an injunction on his assets. Lawyers for Kevin O’Kane confirmed plans to apply for the freezing order to be relaxed to ease the financial burden on his business.

The 51-year-old businessman is being sued by up to 80 investors. The alleged scam involves bogus property deals at the Golden Beach holiday resort on the Aegean Coast. Mr O’Kane, from Bellaghy, denies any wrongdoing and claims instead to have been the victim of a rogue property dealer.

His dealings have been restricted by an injunction banning him from doing anything with his assets while the civil action is underway. Contempt proceedings were due to be heard at the High Court on Thursday over claims that he had breached the order.

He faces a possible fine or even imprisonment if a judge rules that he has breached the terms imposed. But that application was put on hold after it emerged that Mr O’Kane is to seek to vary the injunction.

His barrister, John O’Hare, told the court: “The defendant is being required to discharge prohibitive rates of interest and bank charges which are having, frankly, a crippling effect on his business.”

Source – BBC News