Mark Holyoake, the businessman bringing a multimillion-pound lawsuit against property magnates the Candy brothers, challenged Christian Candy to take a lie-detector test during heated exchanges at the high court on Thursday.
Holyoake is suing Nick and Christian Candy for more than £100m, claiming they “coerced” him out of millions of pounds after they lent him £12m to buy Belgravia mansion Grosvenor Gardens House in late 2011 and subjected him to a campaign of threats and intimidation.
The Candy brothers strongly refute the allegations. They claim that Holyoake was an unreliable creditor who lied to them from the start and that his allegations of coercion are fabricated.
While under cross examination for the fifth consecutive day by the Candys’ barrister, Tim Lord QC, Holyoake insisted he was telling the truth and that he has taken a lie detector test to prove it.
“I’ve taken a polygraph test,” he said. “They crossed the line,” he added, pointing towards the Candy brother’s side of the courtroom.
“Come on Chris, take a polygraph test, and I’ll give a million pounds to charity” he suggested. “But they won’t because their tactic is to deny and deny.”
“Why doesn’t Mr Candy polygraph himself? Come on Chris, do it” he said.
Holyoake said that he arranged the test himself, using “one of the best” polygraph experts in the UK to prove that he was telling the truth.
He alleges that soon after giving him the £12m loan, Christian Candy began to aggressively chase his investment and deliberately try to ruin the property investment project, using a tone that was frequently abusive.
“I’ve never been spoken to in the way that Chris Candy spoke to me, by anyone in my life,” Holyoake said.
The abuse, he said, was “a daily occurrence”.
“‘Nuclear’ is one of Chris Candy’s favourite words. He uses it almost every other word, phrases like ‘go nuclear’, …’hold your feet to the flames’, ‘skin you’.”
Holyoake said that matters came to a head at a meeting in Guernsey in February 2012.
“At that meeting he threatened my wife,” Holyoake testified. “He had no right to mention my wife. I have taken a polygraph test. He knows what he has done.”
Lord said that Christian Candy denies making the threat, and instead said that he expressed concern for Holyoake’s wife during the meeting. Lord added that if what Holyoake said was true, he would have mentioned it in his emails to colleagues reporting on the meeting – which he did not.
“It was private,” Holyoake responded. He said discussed the alleged threat with his colleagues later.
