Robert Troy - Property Mogul

Thread title here is more appropriate. I heard his first defence on the radio and thought it reasonable enough, selling at a loss to facilitate local housing etc etc

But since then, a whole lot more colour & queries have been added.

This man is a senior elected public representative. And he's basically involved in property speculation, churning and flipping properties bought at good prices.

With his sort of contacts, both at the purchasing end and the potential LA purchasers - really he should be kicked out of office. It's not as if he's not underpaid as a public rep and anyway if he's doing that job properly, how would he have time to be in the property churning business???

You'd wonder how Barry Cowen and Dara Calleary feel about it (2 FF TDs who lost their ministerial posts earlier in this government over transgressions)

He should be investigated for potential money laundering. Doubling the price of a house? Very dodgey sounding.

"Mr Troy was asked about a property he had bought for €82,500 in 2019, refurbished over three months and then sold on to Longford County Council for €163,000. He said the property was bought on the open market and it had been in an “uninhabitable state” with a “substantial amount of work to be done”.

He said he sold it on the open market through a local auctioneer and that €163,000 was “the going rate for that property at the time”. Mr Troy said he incurred refurbishment costs as well as professional fees, and made €36,000 before tax on the sale"

https://www.irishtimes.com/politics/2022/08/23/troy-says-he-owns-11-properties-as-he-apologises-again-for-failure-to-fully-declare-interests/

No state is capable of providing housing when the idea of housing everyone has become a money making exercise for those who espouse said ideology.

I know a lot more about money laundering than you. I refer to S.11(4)(b) of the CRIMINAL JUSTICE (MONEY LAUNDERING AND TERRORIST FINANCING) ACT 2010. Learn something please.

how is buying a property, refurbishing it and then selling it for a profit count as money laundering. Be specific as to which section of the act it contravenes.

that's a lot of assumptions based on no evidence at all.

Should every property transaction where someone makes a profit be investigated?

No, not every property transaction. But when someone flips something so quick and doubles the sale price raises questions in my book. Also take into consideration, the buyer is a politically exposed person as another risk factor.

If the house was as bad a state as he says it was, how did he get all that work done in less than 3 months? - keep in mind the property was sold within 3 months, so presumably the works were already completed by the time Westmeath CoCo were involved

If that's what an investigation turns up so be it. Now your making assumptions about wither the property was inhabitable or not fit to be mortgaged.

there is no basis for a criminal investigation. and I did make assumptions, reasonable ones. you on the other hand have assumed criminality unreasonably.