A bankrupt businessman, Mr Matthew Kelly, against whom the Criminal Assets Bureau is seeking almost £3 million in allegedly unpaid taxes, is the beneficial owner of the new Orbit Bar in North King Street, Dublin, a judge has been told.
Sgt Thomas O'Meara said in Dublin Circuit Civil Court that gardai had not objected in 1997 to the granting of a declaratory order in relation to the premises because he had been unaware of Mr Kelly's involvement at the time.
A declaratory order permits the development of licensed premises and, if completed in accordance with plans acceptable to the planning authority and the court, guarantees, in the absence of objections, the granting of a drinks licence to the owner.
Sgt O'Meara told Judge Michael White it was not until mid-1998 that an informant had suggested to him that Mr Kelly was the beneficial owner of the North King Street development.
He had become suspicious that the list of directors of Armada Developments Ltd supplied to him by Mr John McGrattan, Mr Kelly's financial adviser, might not be the beneficial owners of the building for which a drinks licence was being sought.
He told Ms Constance Cassidy, counsel for the Garda Siochana, that, through colleagues in the Criminal Assets Bureau and the Official Assignee in Bankruptcy, he became aware that Mr Kelly, of Navan Road, Dublin, was the owner of the pub. As a result of this information he had put a file together for Supt Gerard Blake, Bridewell Garda station, the CAB and the State Solicitor's Office.
Mr Richard Humphreys, counsel for Armada Developments Ltd, before the hearing of a licensing application for the company, challenged the validity of the Garda objection to the licence under Section 4 of the 1833 Licensing (Ireland) Act.
Mr Humphreys submitted that the section specifically allowed for objections only by "any justice of the peace, church warden or other inhabitant of the parish or health authority". He added that the Garda's application to object at this stage conflicted with statutory procedure and had been factually misconceived. The superintendent had also failed to furnish proper particulars as to his objection.
Ms Cassidy said she had been instructed by Supt Blake to object. "My client's instructions are that this application is a sham and a fraud and that Matthew Kelly was a shadow director and controls the company and is not a fit person to act as agent for the company," she said.
The matter has been adjourned for further legal argument on the preliminary issue of validity to object. In High Court proceedings the CAB has sought judgment against Mr Kelly for £2,950,866, and the matter has been sent forward for full trial on a number of contested issues.