AN APPLICATION to imprison the managing director of a company for alleged breach of court orders has been adjourned after he undertook to co-operate with the company’s liquidator.
Jas Kalsi, MD of Ennis-based property investment company MPS Global, agreed yesterday to endeavour to provide specific information sought by liquidator Myles Kirby and to co-operate in relation to the realisation of the company’s assets.
Mr Kirby had sought to have Mr Kalsi jailed on grounds he allegedly breached court orders, including to co-operate with the liquidator.
Ms Justice Mary Finlay Geoghegan agreed to adjourn the matter to early next year. It was better to obtain an undertaking of co-operation from Mr Kalsi than the court having to incarcerate him for refusing to do so, the judge said.
“I don’t underestimate the importance of Mr Kalsi dealing with this matter,” the judge stressed. “The liquidator has serious obligations to creditors and he must get to the bottom of what’s going on.”
Mr Kalsi has undertaken to provide an explanation as to how specific properties were disposed of and to provide details of the sale price and date of sale in each case. He has also agreed to provide a number of bank statements and explanations relating to specific money transfers.
Gerard Meehan, for the liquidator, said Mr Kalsi had indicated he would give his best efforts to access the necessary information.
Mr Kalsi told the judge he wanted to make clear that procuring a lot of the information sought was outside of his control. He said it was not his choice not to produce information and he had no desire to stop the liquidator in his efforts.
He said he wished to apologise to the liquidator that he had “to go through so much” and added he wanted to reassure him “that I will continue to do my best”.
The judge told Mr Kalsi that he had a “positive obligation” to co-operate. “It will not be sufficient if I’m only satisfied that you haven’t obstructed,” she warned. “If you don’t discharge that positive obligation then you will be considered to be in contempt.”
Last week, Mr Meehan said the court had declared in June that Mr Kalsi had failed to keep proper books and had knowingly carried on business at MPS Global “with intent to defraud creditors of the company”.
Mr Kalsi had consented to an order compelling him to co-operate with the liquidator and an order freezing his assets.
Since then, the liquidator said it believed Mr Kalsi had sold a number of the company’s properties in Bulgaria, Mr Meehan said.