The High Court has granted an order restraining a company director and three Spanish property companies from reducing their assets here and in Spain below €840,000. The court was told, among other claims, that some €2 million in client money was wrongfully taken from certain company accounts.
Mr Justice Thomas Smyth was also told that, after a former employee of two of the defendant companies had said he would give evidence against them, his apartment in Spain was broken into this week and he was "in fear" of the defendants.
The judge granted the accounts freezing order to Cyril McMorrow, Carrick Road, Boyle, Co Roscommon, who claims the defendants have retained some €540,000 paid over by him for investment in apartments in Spain and that he is also due some €300,000 for alleged loss of profit.
The order is against Karl Morris and three companies - Simple Palmera Properties Ltd (SPP), Simple Overseas Property Ltd (SOP) and Simple Property Group SL (SPG). Mr Morris was described as a director of all three Simple companies, with an address at Mill House, Schull, Co Cork. An earlier hearing was told seven of 11 offices operated in Ireland and Wales by some of the defendant companies had closed down in recent months with losses to investors.
Mr Justice Smyth said he was disquieted that the defendants had put forward no evidence in the application. The defendants had had ample opportunities to file replying affidavits but had not done so, he said.
The judge had been told by junior counsel for the defendants that an affidavit had been prepared but counsel said she did not believe it could be filed without being settled by senior counsel, who was not in court yesterday. In reply to the judge, junior counsel also confirmed Mr Morris himself was in court.
In those circumstances, the judge said he had to decide on the evidence of one side only. On the information he had heard, Mr McMorrow was clearly entitled to the order sought.
Mr McMorrow says the conduct of the defendants has meant he has been unable to complete the purchase of a block of 17 apartments as agreed, resulting in serious financial loss to him. Mr McMorrow alleges that he paid cheques to the SOP company, which has since been dissolved, and the SPP company registered in an attempt to avoid legal and financial obligations to him.
Mr McMorrow said he had decided about 2004 to invest in Spanish property, had met Mr Morris in Spain, felt confident to invest with him and in October 2004 decided to buy some 17 apartments in a block in Carboneras on the basis that they would be frontline beach apartments.
On foot of an oral contract made with Mr Morris, he made payments by cheque totalling €543,586 by February 2005. He later found the apartments were smaller than agreed with Mr Morris and were not frontline beach apartments. Despite repeated assurances, the problems were not rectified and his money was not returned.
