Dublin businessman Mr Thomas O'Keeffe, who is being pursued for information about large sums of money he was given to invest, has been jailed for 14 days for contempt of High Court orders.

Mr O'Keeffe's solicitor was informed via an anonymous phone call earlier this week that his client had died.

A later call said he was unwell and could not attend court. This led to Mr Justice Kearns ordering a Garda inquiry to establish Mr O'Keeffe's state of health.

Yesterday, Mr O'Keeffe, who has an address at the Sweepstakes, Ballsbridge, was brought under Garda escort to the High Court. The court had directed that he be arrested and brought before it for failing to comply with court orders to appear before it to disclose information relating to his financial affairs.

After a brief hearing, he was sentenced to 14 days' detention in Mountjoy Prison for contempt of court.

On Wednesday, the court was told that Mr O'Keeffe had presented himself at the casualty department of St Vincent's Hospital in Dublin the previous day complaining of a minor heart attack.

Mr Justice Kearns directed that Mr O'Keeffe be brought before the court as soon as he was discharged.

Mr O'Keeffe had been directed to explain his failure to appear before the court last Monday to answer questions about monies alleged to have been given to him to invest on behalf of clients, including professional golfer Mr Des Smyth.

The court also heard that a US investor, Mr John O'Neill, was seeking recovery of $5 million (€5.5 million) he had given to Mr O'Keeffe to invest. Six other investors, including Mr Smyth, are seeking recovery of €700,000.

Last week, Mr O'Keeffe was told to be in court on Monday. If not fit to appear, he was to have a doctor give evidence of his condition or else produce a sworn medical statement.

When the court sat on Monday, Mr Justice Kearns was told there had been an anonymous call to Mr O'Keeffe's solicitors suggesting that Mr O'Keeffe had died. A second caller was alleged to have said Mr O'Keeffe was unwell and would not attend. The judge directed that gardaí investigate the matter.

Yesterday, Mr John Trainor SC, for Mr O'Neill, said Mr O'Keeffe had been released from hospital into the custody of gardaí.

Mr Justice Kearns said a succession of court orders, going back to February, had not been complied with and, in effect, all persons endeavouring to contact Mr O'Keeffe had been led "a merry dance".

Mr Charles Meenan SC, for the six other investors, said Mr O'Keeffe had put information before his (Mr O'Keeffe's) legal advisers to the effect that on Monday at 3 a.m. he had died as a result of cardiac failure.

Mr Justice Kearns said that was now the subject of a Garda inquiry that he had directed. While he would give Mr O'Keeffe an opportunity to address the court, he would also be cautioning him against any question of self incrimination in relation to the Garda investigation.

Mr O'Keeffe said he would like to apologise for any unintentional disrespect to the court. He added that he was not legally represented. Mr Justice Kearns said he still had a solicitor on record but Mr O'Keeffe said that solicitor had said he would not be in court.

While he had been told he had not signed affidavits, Mr O'Keeffe said, to the best of his recollection, he had signed 14 affidavits and had complied with the orders of the court.

Mr Justice Kearns said he was committing Mr O'Keeffe to 14 days in Mountjoy prison having regard to the gravity of the non-compliance with various orders.

He had made inquiries and believed the prison had a good medical unit, with a GP on 24-hour call and the Mater Hospital only two minutes away.

The governor would be advised of Mr O'Keeffe's medical condition.

If Mr O'Keeffe decided to co-operate, the governor should make such technical facilities available for a period each day so that Mr O'Keeffe could conduct inquiries and gather information that would enable him to comply with the orders of the court.

The matter would be reviewed in two weeks time.