High Court seeks arrest of ex-Revenue tax inspector

A HIGH Court judge has issued a warrant for the arrest of a former Revenue tax inspector after he failed to turn up in court hours after allegedly seeking urgently to transfer €451,282 to a Spanish bank account.

James Leonard Daly (otherwise James Daly, Shay Daly and Séamus Daly) is being pursued by ACCBank and the Revenue for more than €4.5 million.

Mr Justice Peter Kelly issued the warrant again when Mr Daly failed to appear in court last Friday for continuing cross-examination by the bank over his assets.

The judge also made orders restraining Mr Daly leaving this jurisdiction without leave of the court and freezing a sum of €451,282 which Mr Daly allegedly sought to lodge earlier in the Dundalk branch of Ulster Bank for onward transfer to Spain.

In an affidavit, Alex Hoffman, a solicitor for ACC, said there was evidence Mr Daly had sought to hide substantial monies from his creditors. Mr Hoffman said his firm was told on the morning of February 3rd Mr Daly was at the Ulster Bank branch in Dundalk seeking to lodge a bank draft for €451,282 to an Ulster Bank account in the name of Pink Sands Holdings Ltd, with instructions the money be immediately transferred to a Spanish bank account.

While the draft was lodged into the Pink Sands account, Ulster Bank told Mr Daly they could not effect the requested onward transfer of the funds until Monday, February 6th, the solicitor said.

He understood Mr Daly left the Dundalk branch shortly afterwards but failed to attend court at 11.30am that day, when his cross-examination was to resume.

A qualified accountant with an address at Kinvara, Woodleigh Park, Model Farm Road, Cork, Mr Daly (54) worked in the Revenue for about eight years. He has been before the Commercial Court on several occasions for cross-examination since January 2011 as part of ACC’s bid to enforce a €2.5 million judgment obtained against him in 2009 over unpaid loans and guarantees. The Revenue also raised assessments for €2 million in alleged unpaid taxes against Mr Daly between 1996 and 2007 after it had investigated some of Mr Daly’s clients.

In separate proceedings, Eileen Daly, who is divorced from Mr Daly, consented to judgment in May 2010 for some €2.6 million against her over unpaid loans advanced by ACCBank to her, Mr Daly and another man.

During the examination of Mr Daly last year, Mr Justice Kelly said he had given untruthful evidence about his assets and directed a transcript of his evidence be sent to the Revenue and the National Bureau of Fraud Investigation. The judge expressed “grave doubts” whether the 2009 “friendly” divorce obtained by Mr Daly and his wife was genuine as Mr Daly, while allegedly estranged from his wife, bought properties with his own funds and gifted them to her.

The judge expressed concern there was a “contrived state of affairs” in many respects, including the divorce and whether a petition by Mr Daly for bankruptcy in the North in October 2010 was contrived to mislead the NI authorities into granting “a quickie bankruptcy”. Mr Daly denied those suggestions.

As a result of financial issues that arose in Eileen Daly’s cross-examination, Mr Daly was recalled for cross-examination from January 31st last. The bank said, when questioned about a credit transfer of €445,000 into an account of Pink Sands on November 3rd, 2011, and about a €451,282 transfer out of that account on November 21st, Mr Daly indicated the monies came from a Chris Aonda (also known as Harry Hacienda) relating to a purchase of apartments in Dublin.

Mr Daly indicated that purchase did not go ahead and the funds, plus €6,282 to buy Mr Aonda’s car, were returned on November 21st to Mr Aonda. After that evidence, the judge directed Ulster Bank, Blackrock, Co Dublin, to provide documents concerning those transactions. ACC claims the Ulster Bank documents and evidence suggests the €451,282 was deposited to a bank account in Newry in the name of Droumnea Services Ltd, a UK-registered company arranged to be incorporated by Mr Daly to hide monies from his creditors.

Other documents “alarmingly” indicated €212,377 came into the account of Whitefox Properties Ltd (through which Mr Daly allegedly operated his accountancy practices) in April 2010 and €212,828 was transferred from Whitefox to Egerton Management Ltd in May 2010, the bank said.

There was evidence Mr Daly is, or was, accumulating monies in accounts in the name of Egerton, the bank claims. It has initiated proceedings against the Egerton, Droumnea and Pink Sands companies and has secured orders restraining dissipation of assets below €3 million.