The High Court has ordered former All-Ireland winning Wexford hurler Paul Codd to be arrested and brought before the court over his continuing refusal to co-operate with his bankruptcy.
Mr Justice Brian McGovern issued a warrant for Mr Codd’s arrest after being told that he had not complied with undertakings given last January to meet Chris Lehane, the court-appointed official in charge of his bankruptcy.
Mr Codd, who was not in court yesterday, was briefly jailed last December for his alleged non-compliance with the bankruptcy process.
Two days before Christmas, he was released from Mountjoy Prison where he had been taken on December 21st following his arrest on foot of an October 2013 warrant, after providing a statement of affairs to Mr Lehane and promising to co-operate.
Alleged pressure
He later claimed he was coerced into giving undertakings to co-operate so as to avoid spending Christmas in prison. He also alleged pressure was put on him to make his statement of affairs.
In January, he gave undertakings to co-operate with Mr Lehane and return machinery leased to his now-dissolved company, Paul Codd Ltd.
Mr Lehane said three meetings were pre-arranged so Mr Codd could provide evidence to corroborate claims made in his statement of affairs but all were cancelled by Mr Codd via late-night emails.
Mr Codd also failed to return machinery leased by Friends First Finance or to return €500,000 worth of machinery leased by Deutsche Leasing Ireland, the court was told.
Contempt of court
Mr Lehane said Mr Codd had breached his undertakings, was in contempt of court and he wanted an order under section 23 of the Bankruptcy Act to have Mr Codd arrested.
Mr Codd, Askinfarney, Clonroche, Co Wexford, was adjudicated bankrupt in 2013 over his failure to satisfy a €530,000 judgment entered against him after he failed to complete the purchase of 46 acres at Askinfarney for about €800,000. Mr Codd’s debts, combined with those of his company, are estimated at some €4.9 million.