A judge has refused to order an Italian electrical agent to furnish security for the legal costs of a Dublin accountant he is suing over an alleged £13,000 debt.
Mr Joe Christle, counsel for accountant Colm Watters, of Fosterbrook, Stillorgan Road, Dublin, said that in 1996 Giordana Lanzani, of Milan, Italy, had put his client in funds to the extent of £23,000 to be held on his behalf.
On demand from Lanzani, £10,000 had been paid back to him by Mr Watters. There was now a dispute over the remaining monies which, Mr Watters claimed, had been repaid in cash. Watters had lodged a defence and counter claim against Lanzani.
Mr Christle said it had come to his client's notice that monies had been moved by Lanzani out of the European Union to a Swiss bank account which, together with the fact he was not an Irish citizen, prompted Mr Watters to seek security of legal costs of the forthcoming court trial.
Judge Elizabeth Dunne held that neither ground was a compelling enough reason to make such an order and granted the costs of yesterday's application to Mr Lanzani.