A factory supervisor at a meat plant in Rathkeale, Co Limerick, is to sue the State for damages following a High Court preliminary judgment yesterday.
The action is being taken by Laurence Kelly (54), a line supervisor in the boning hall of the Anglo Irish Beef Processors plant, at Ballywilliam, Rathkeale. He claims that as a result of wrongful acts of the servants or agents of the Minister for Agriculture, namely the forging of his signature on certain documentation, he was subjected to arrest, detention and prosecution.
Mr Kelly was acquitted in the Circuit Court in 1995 after pleading not guilty to charges of conspiracy to defraud the Minister.
Mr Justice Butler, in a reserved judgment, said it was pleaded the Minister dealt with AIBP whereby the company agreed to sell and the Minister agreed to purchase intervention beef produced at the Rathkeale plant. Documentation had to be prepared and submitted to the Minister within three days of the de-boning of intervention beef.
The documentation and its execution provided the basis on which the Minister authorised payment for intervention beef and de-boning charges. Between July 1990 and October 1991, wrongful description and quantification of intervention beef into prescribed documentation took place.
The signature of Mr Kelly appeared on the forms which recorded the particulars of the de-boning of intervention beef for the relevant period.
The signature appearing on the forms was not Mr Kelly's as he did not sign any of the forms. His signature was placed on the documents by an officer, servant or agent of the Minister and was done without the knowledge or consent of Mr Kelly.
In October 1991 Mr Kelly became aware of the wrongful use of his signature when he was informed by an officer of the Minister. He was arrested and subjected to a criminal prosecution of charges of conspiracy to defraud the Minister.
Mr Kelly was returned for trial by the District Court in November 1994 and pleaded not guilty to the charges. He was acquitted by direction of the trial judge at a Circuit Court hearing in 1995.