Curioser And Curioser

Kevin McGeever recovered enough from his ordeal at the hands of his kidnappers, or at any rate enough that he could walk away on his own.

Or he had an urge to remove himself from the hospital where he was brought by gardai after the property developer was found abandoned on the side of the road in a distressed condition.

He left the hospital in such a rush that he forget to tell authorities where he was going. If they wish to question him further as to his whereabouts for the past several months, during which time he says he lived on one sandwich per day and a bit of water, they'll have to track him down.

They didn't manage to find him from May, when he disappeared, until January when he resurfaced, so there isn't much confidence in that claim.

There isn't much confidence in Mr. McGeever's claim that he was kidnapped, either.

In his glory days, Mr. McGeever flaunted his wealth throughout Mullingar, boasting that he was making money hand over fist in all sorts of schemes.

But ask those who invested with him and you'll find another story altogether, that of the classic con man who took other people's money and failed to pay a return because he was using those funds to flaunt his wealth.

There were supposed to be properties in Dubai being purchased, but often the same property was sold to more than one person and in some cases, the property didn't even exist.

Some lost entire life savings, so it's no stretch of the imagination to picture one of them holding Mr. McGeever for a ransom equivalent to what was owed. There's no evidence, however, that any ransom was paid.

But would a man be so desperate as to hide himself away and essentially torture himself with starvation, and to what end? He's still facing potential lawsuits by those investors and the builders who were constructing his mansion that was never finished.

There would be no avoiding jail time, whether he was kidnapped or not. Juries don't have a great deal of sympathy for defendants who cheat people out of hard-earned savings, and a kidnapping wouldn't soften those feelings.

Who can say, but perhaps Mr. McGeever staged his disappearance with a mind to get out of Ireland, but then failed to pay his purported kidnappers. Promises of future rewards, the life blood of his method of operation, would not be believed by criminals who know all the angles. Without immediate payment, Mr. McGeever's treatment would not have been the best.

Having left no forwarding address, it is clear that Kevin McGeever wishes to really disappear, as if his first stab failed but he's trying a new angle.

After living a splashy lifestyle, however, his face is well known and he's not likely to find success running a Ponzi scheme elsewhere. It's hard to have confidence in a confidence man when he's already known as a thief.

The strange case of the property develope grows curioser and curioser.

Will he surface somewhere else, with a new way for the gullible to get rich quick? Or is he going to try his hand at some other, less visible, form of crime to earn his keep?