There was "significant concealment of irregularities" in the management by Mr Paschal Phelan of the Master Meat Packers group prior to Mr Phelan's shareholding being sold in 1988, counsel for Larry Goodman has claimed at the High Court.

Mr Phelan had inflicted "depradations" on the companies, depleted their funds and left them "running at good speed towards the rocks", it was alleged.

Among the "fairly audacious" means used to extract value from the MMP companies was the writing of cheques for "non-existent" cattle and the recycling of those cheques through a variety of mechanisms, Mr Dermot Gleeson SC said. In the last few days after Mr Phelan left, £1 million (€1.27 million) was taken in what was claimed to be dividends. There was "no doubt" Mr Phelan was "good at getting value" from the firm.

Mr Gleeson said another method of misappropriation was via cheques for capital expenditure; for example, cheques for machines which did not exist or cheques which inflated the prices of machines. He said there was also payment of certain personal expenses of Mr Phelan's from company funds, including payments for holidays, his house, boat repairs, fittings for his hunting lodge and heating oil. Mr Phelan was also in the habit of paying dividends to himself without going through the banks, he added.

Just before the sale of Mr Phelan's shareholding, monies held by MMP companies in the UK were repatriated to Ireland. Some of these funds were diverted to a company in Ballymena, Co Antrim, which was not within the MMP group but was controlled by Mr Phelan, counsel said. He said there was also a consistent pattern of cattle weight discrepancies.

Mr Gleeson said the scale of "false accounting" in the MMP group had to be borne in mind in relation to Mr Phelan's claims against Mr Goodman. He said Mr Phelan was guilty of wrongdoing when he was the guiding force in MMP. By the age of 34, Mr Phelan had taken £6 million from the MMP enterprise which was "running at good speed towards the rocks", Mr Gleeson said. In the end, it was a loss-making company.

Now Mr Phelan was coming to court saying he was entitled to more money on the basis that he had not known who was buying his shareholding (Larry Goodman). There is no cause of action in any court based on "I didn't know who was buying", counsel argued. It was outrageous that Mr Phelan, when he was paid too much for his shareholding, was now back in court looking for more. Mr Phelan was not seeking to rescind the deal, he wanted the price increased. This was a "world first" being launched in this courtroom.

Counsel said Mr Phelan had manipulated the companies in the group and depleted them of their value by the time he sold his shares in the companies in 1988. The most significant part of these depleted funds found their way into Mr Phelan's own pockets or in to companies outside the MMP group but controlled by Mr Phelan, Mr Gleeson said.

When Mr Phelan sold his shares in MMP in 1998, he had placed his own value on the companies and was the person best placed to value the group, counsel added. He had sold the companies for more than they were worth.

Mr Gleeson referred to articles in newspapers published after the sale of Mr Phelan's shareholding which, counsel said, were "instructive" in relation to Mr Phelan's claim that he had been tricked. Mr Phelan had told The Irish Times he was "handsomely rewarded" for the sale of his shares and told the Irish Independent the deal was for "multiple times" what he'd earlier valued his shareholding for.

During the course of Mr Gleeson's address, Mr James Salafia SC, for Mr Phelan, made a number of objections and suggested Mr Gleeson was playing to the gallery and the press. Mr Gleeson said he took personal exception to that suggestion. He said he had asked to be permitted to make an address after "an exceptionally drawn-out and abusive opening" of the case.

The hearing continues today.