A former All-Ireland-winning Wexford hurler faces being sent back to prison over his alleged refusal to co-operate with the official administering his bankruptcy.
At the High Court yesterday, Mr Justice Brian McGovern was told Paul Codd had not complied with his undertakings given to the court last month to meet Chris Lehane, the court-appointed official in charge of his bankruptcy.
Mr Codd, Askinfarney, Clonroche, Co Wexford, who was not in court yesterday, was briefly jailed last December for alleged non-compliance with the bankruptcy process.
Two days before Christmas, he secured his release from Mountjoy Prison after providing a statement of affairs to Mr Lehane and promising to co-operate. Mr Codd later claimed he was coerced into giving undertakings to co-operate in an effort to avoid spending Christmas in jail.
Last month, he gave sworn undertakings to Mr Justice Gerard Hogan to co-operate with Mr Lehane and return several items of machinery leased by Friends First Finance to Mr Codd’s now-dissolved company Paul Codd Ltd.
Meetings set up
Mr Lehane said yesterday that Mr Codd had not attended arranged meetings set up to give Mr Codd an opportunity to provide evidence to corroborate claims made in his statement of affairs. This was particularly relevant given Mr Codd's claim that pressure was being put on him into making a statement of affairs, Mr Lehane said.
Three meetings arranged with Mr Codd were all cancelled in a series of late-night emails from Mr Codd, he added. Mr Codd had also failed to return machinery leased by Friends First Finance, the court was told.
Mr Lehane said Mr Codd was “in contempt of court” and he was bringing a motion seeking Mr Codd’s attachment and committal to prison.
A man saying he was representing Mr Codd but was not a lawyer asked to address the court and said Mr Codd was currently “out of the jurisdiction”.
Mr Justice McGovern told the man he had no right to speak on Mr Codd’s behalf and if Mr Codd wished to make any representations, he could do so by attending in person. He adjourned the matter to early next month.
€530,000 judgment
Mr Codd was adjudicated bankrupt last March over his failure to satisfy a judgment secured against him in 2011 for €530,000.
That arose after David Deasey, Timoleague, Co Cork, complained he had sold Mr Codd 46 acres at Askinfarney for about €800,000 but only a deposit of €40,000 was paid and Mr Codd had not completed the sale.
Mr Deasey obtained a judgment of €530,326 against Mr Codd in 2011 and, when that was not satisfied, Mr Deasey petitioned the court to have Mr Codd adjudicated bankrupt. Mr Codd’s debts, combined with those of his company, are estimated to be €4.9 million.