The High Court will decide next month whether two affidavits by Tony Taylor, the founder of collapsed finance company Taylor Assets Managers, can be used in High Court proceedings by the liquidator of the Taylor companies.
Mr Taylor has made a number of allegations in his affidavits against other directors of the company, who include the TV personality Eddie Hobbs, the court was previously told.
However, the liquidator of the companies, Paddy McSwiney, has said he does not propose to rely on those affidavits for his proceedings against the other directors, and would only rely on the affidavits in the proceedings against Mr Taylor himself.
Mr McSwiney, who is obliged under the Companies Act to bring proceedings against the directors of Taylor Asset Managers, has previously told the court that he has no evidence that the other four directors - Mr Hobbs, Tom Carroll, Tom Lynch and Shirley Taylor - had acted other than honestly and responsibly.
All of the parties involved in the proceedings are separately represented.
The case came before Ms Justice Mary Finlay Geoghegan yesterday for further directions before it proceeds to a full hearing on January 17th next.
After being told last week that the liquidator did not propose to reply to Mr Taylor's affidavits in the proceedings against the other directors, the judge had adjourned the matter to allow the parties to consider the implications of that.
She said that the court would, before the full hearing, have to determine the issue of whether the liquidator was obliged to bring to the court's attention the two affidavits of Mr Taylor in the liquidator's application under section 150 against each of the other directors.
Ms Justice Finlay Geoghegan directed that any of the parties who wished to argue that the liquidator was not obliged to do so must, through their solicitors, write to the solicitors for the liquidator and to the solicitors for Mr Taylor by December 21st to indicate any factual material they wished to rely on in relation to determining the issue. She fixed January 15th for the hearing of that issue.
Last week, counsel for Mr Taylor, whose companies collapsed in 1996 with millions of pounds in clients' funds missing, told the court that Mr Taylor was not arguing against restrictions being imposed upon him under section 150.
Mr Taylor was convicted of fraud in 2001. His counsel yesterday said he was "greatly surprised" that the liquidator was not putting Mr Taylor's affidavit before the court in relation to the section 150 proceedings against the other directors.
Mr McSwiney initiated the section 150 proceedings last July after the conclusion of criminal proceedings against Mr Taylor.
Mr McSwiney is obliged to make such an application, which is procedural in nature, even if he believes the directors acted fairly and honestly.
