INVESTIGATORS probing the mysterious case of Kevin Michael McGeever have contacted their counterparts in Dubai to establish if he had 'kidnap and ransom insurance', the Sunday World can reveal.

The 'kidnapped' tycoon turned up half-starved in Ballinamore, Co. Leitrim - where IRA hostage Don Tidey was rescued 30 years ago - sporting a long beard and overgrown fingernails in January with the word 'thief' written in indelible ink on his forehead.McGeever (68), claimed he had been abducted and held in an underground container, surviving on a ham sandwich a day.

Fugitive

The fugitive - who is wanted for questioning by Interpol -was carrying a torch and mobile phone, despite the nightmare ordeal he claims to have endured.

"The kidnap and ransom insurance angle is something we are looking into," a Sunday World source said. "We've asked the police in Dubai to check it out over there, but there's a lot of bureaucracy involved and it's a lengthy process."Companies specialising in kidnap and ransom policies are also being contacted, the Sunday World understands.
"There are about 30 companies around the world specialis- ing in kidnap policies," our source said.

The insurance cover does not payout ransoms, but reimburses losses incurred by the insured and are extremely popular in billionaire belts like oil-rich Dubai.
While maintaining he cannot remember important details,McGeever has told gardai a ransom was paid over to his captors before his release and he has now given sketchy details of his abduction.

"He claims three men were waiting for him at his home in Craughwell, Co. Galway, on May 27 last year, and that they were wearing balaclavas and had big guns," a source said.
"He said he does not know where they were from or where he was taken."

Almost eight months later, on January 29, McGeever was picked up on the roadside near Ballinamore by motorist Patrick Rehill and his partner Catherine Vallely.
Detectives attached to the Criminal Assets Bureau (CAB) have been grilling McGeever's disgruntled clients and creditors to establish the basis for his incredible wealth.

Exposed

As first exposed by the Sunday World, McGeever's assets are tied up in a complex trust, Universal Assets Limited, which CAB are probing.
"It took over six hours to give my statement," one creditor told the Sunday World. "They were exceptionally thorough."
Before he disappeared the pensioner had been selling property in Dubai, through KMM International Properties in Mullingar, Co. Westmeath, that never materialised for investors.

At least 50 Irish people paid out sums oj between €100,000 and $l.million jor apartments in Shami Tower, a development in Dubai that was never completed.
Others told the Sunday World they purchased apartments in developments from him that never existed.
Around 30 contractors also claim they are owed money for work and supplying goods to the mansion he was building in CraughwelL

"Everyday there'd be some confrontation," a source said.
"The words 'McGeever Pay Up' were spray-painted in red on the wall outside at one point.
There was a picket at his home at another stage. Things got so bad he didn't go out at all."

The Swinford, Co. Mayo, native defended himself last week, claiming he wants to put the record straight, but is still too weak - suffering from 'change of food' syndrome.
However, behind the scenes he has also been trying to negotiate a price for his story. "He's looking for (8,000 to do the interview, but he's claiming he will donate the money to cancer research," a source said.McGeever has still not visited his terminally-ill girlfriend Siobhan O'Callaghan in a hospice in Harold's Cross, the Sunday World can disclose.

Raided

Ms O'Callaghan's apartment in Clontarf, Dublin, was raided by CAB detectives and laptops and papers were taken.
The couple's faith healer friend Robert Heavey, who has "the cure" for strokes, denied he had been accommodating his old friend.
The owner of the blue Opel that picked McGeever up from Mullingar Hospital when he went to ground for a second time said "he is not staying here", when contacted at his home in Enfield, Co. Meath.