Bodrum Gumbet Forum

A victim of an alleged international property scam has told a jury that he was “displeased to say the least” when he discovered the man who had allegedly scammed him “didn’t own a blade of grass in Turkey and we didn’t own a house”. Giving evidence at the Belfast Crown Court trial of 52-year-old Kevin Eugene O’Kane, the first of his seven alleged victims told the jury how O’Kane claimed he was selling holiday villas in the sunshine resort of Gumbet in Turkey for £75,000.

O’Kane of Ballyneese Road in Portglenone denies 27 charges of obtaining property and money transfers by deception on various dates between 8 August 2005 and 13 April 2007. The charges cover seven alleged victims who, the Crown allege, were duped into paying over £500,000 in total to O’Kane for the purchase of properties in Gumbet but they say the property scheme was “a scam and a trick”.

Mr John Moore Jr told the jury of seven men and five women that he, his wife and her parents all clubbed together to buy no.9 Golden Beach Villas while his parents arranged to buy no.8 after O’Kane came to his family home and told them “he was the landowner and that he was selling the houses”.

He said they initially put down a “refundable deposit” of £25,000 in June 2006 and after visiting Turkey and seeing the property he was supposedly buying the following month, thought it was “fantastic” and paid across the rest of the money.

Mr Moore said that while at the development site, which was almost finished, O’Kane claimed “his men” were still finishing other houses and when asked who he believed owned the land, told the court simply:

“Well, Kevin O’Kane.” Asked by prosecution lawyer Michael Chambers whether he received any receipts for the transferred cash, Mr Moore told him he did get one for the deposit but received nothing following the transfer of £50,000 to O’Kane’s Turkish bank account at the end of July 2006.

Following the site visit, Mr Moore said he and his wife were brought to a notary’s office in Turkey to begin the formal legal process of buying the villa and that he signed power of attorney to a man called Kubiley Atmaco, describing him as O’Kane’s “fixer” in Turkey.

He described how he was told that in Turkey, the process would take around six months to complete but that within a fairly short space of time, he would receive rental income from the property which O’Kane claimed was an agreed £7,000 per year as well as the deeds.

Mr Moore said that come the start of 2007 however, his wife was “becoming increasingly agitated” because there was no sign of the rental income or the deeds “so we started to feel a bit nervous”.

By March of that year, he told the court he arranged to meet O’Kane in his Cookstown office and it was then that he was handed a “flimsy” deeds document and a cheque for £4845 which O’Kane claimed was the rental money minus legal fees incurred in Turkey for the sale of the property.

Mr Moore added however that it later transpired in May that the deeds “were fake ones” so he arranged to go to Turkey himself to try to sort the situation out.

While there during a meeting with their solicitor, another of the alleged victims, O’Kane and his solicitor, it was arranged that the deeds would be transferred to a limited company set up by Mr Moore as he had been told that would be the quickest way to get them.

Mr Moore told the jury how they called the new limited company “Fresh Air Properties Ltd,” commenting to trial judge Mr Justice McLaughlin that it was “a bit of black humour” but that despite an agreement, no deeds were ever forthcoming.

He also claimed that whilst still in Turkey, about to make a statement of complaint to police over there, O’Kane tried to convince him to “blame the Turkish guy”.”I said ‘Kevin I have to tell the truth here. I bought the house off you. I didn’t have any dealings with Kubiley Atmaco,’” said Mr Moore.The trial continues.