The Irish insurance company put into liquidation last week could be facing as much as €24m in motor insurance claims, according to the 2012 annual reports.

So far the Malta Financial Services Authority has declined to comment, saying that it would leave matters in the hand of the liquidator – Paul Mercieca – but Irish stakeholders are already baying for its blood, saying it should be held responsible for allowing the insurance company to operate when it was not meeting its regulatory requirements.

The Setanta accounts for the year ending September 2012 were signed by the auditors in June 2013 but were not filed with the Company Registrar until November 2013.

Sources said that the 2013 accounts for the Malta-registered company were currently being drafted – so it is not clear whether the picture changed since then. The promised injection of capital also does not seem to have materialised as nothing to this effect was registered with the MFSA.

In the 2012 accounts, auditors Grant Thornton had already raised the red flag saying that while the group met legal solvency limits, it did not meet regulatory ones.

The company has provisions for realistic motor insurance claims amounting to €24 million, but it has some €28 million in cash, cash equivalents and investments. All claims are currently on hold pending the liquidator’s assessment but it has already been made clear that this exercise would take time and that not all creditors’ claims might be settled in full.

Although the annual reports were signed and filed late, it is not clear whether Setanta was meeting its regulatory requirements to submit reports to the insurance unit of the MFSA, which range from monthly to quarterly reports.