A director of a Dublin furniture company which is in liquidation and has about 2,000 depositors who have paid €500,000, was arrested yesterday and taken before the High Court.
Mr Karsten Stenshoj, a Danish national, was freed by Mr Justice Kelly after giving undertakings to co- operate with the liquidation process of House of Denmark Ltd, and not to leave the country.
Mr Stenshoj, with an address in Bettystown, Co Meath, told the judge he would be happy to co-operate with Mr Martin Ferris, who was appointed liquidator two weeks ago.
The firm has been involved in the wholesale furniture business at Rosemount Business Park, Blanchardstown, Co Dublin. Mr Stenshoj was arrested following a meeting of creditors of an associated company, Silven Ltd, in Dublin. Silven trades from a retail outlet at Airside Retail Park, Swords.
In court, Mr Stenshoj said he would also sign on daily at Bettystown Garda station and live at his home in Co Meath. He agreed to his passport being handed in to court.
Mr Stenshoj had contacted the liquidator on Monday on his return from Spain but did not know until yesterday that the High Court had made an order last week for the arrest of himself and his wife, Annette, who is also a director, it was stated.
Mr Gary McCarthy, for the liquidator, said when Mr Stenshoj was arrested he had a bag with possessions in it, suggesting he intended to flee the jurisdiction to his wife and family in Spain. In an affidavit, Mr Ferris said the company carried out a stock take on June 6th. There was approximately €1,000,000 worth of stock, but according to the inspection, the stock currently on the premises and held by a freight company was worth only a fraction of the €1,000,000 attributed to it. He could find no explanation for this discrepancy from the information available to him, Mr Ferris said.
Mr Ronan Murphy, for Mr Stenshoj, said he and his wife were willing to co-operate with the liquidator. He had voluntarily attended the creditors meeting to meet the creditors and would do everything possible to account for any assets in the company.