Commercial landlord John Meagher faces arrest for contempt of court

Commercial landlord John Meagher faces arrest for contempt of court over his failure to provide a statement of his assets to a bank pursuing him over a €7 million judgment.

A judge granted orders allowing the businessman's arrest yesterday as Danske Bank, trading as National Irish Bank, obtained attachment orders against him over his failure to satisfy a judgment over unpaid loans secured on properties at Charlemont Street, Dublin.

Mr Justice Peter Kelly said there was prima facie evidence of contempt by Mr Meagher, Milltown, Ashbourne, Co Meath, of an order of May 13th last requring him to provide within four weeks a statement of his means. The bank wanted that statement for its court examination of Mr Meagher next month concerning his assets.

He made an order allowing gardaí to arrest Mr Meagher and bring him before the judge to explain why he should not be jailed for contempt.

In seeking the attachment order earlier, Rossa Fanning, for the bank, complained there had been no engagement whatsoever by Mr Meagher in this case although he was involved in separate litigation against Dublin City Council.

The receiver appointed by the bank over various properties at Charlemont Street also brought proceedings last week against Mr Meagher, counsel added. The judge said he was satisfied Mr Meagher, who was not in court and not represented, was aware of the proceedings and had chosen to ignore them.

Last February, judgment was entered against Mr Meagher, who had entered no appearance, in the sum of €6,984,826, plus costs.

Danske offered Mr Meagher a €6.9m loan facility in February 2011 to restructure exisiting loans. The loan was secured on five properies on Charlemont Street.

The last full payment by Mr Meagher on the loans was in January 2012: the next month’s payment of €48,546 was deferred until April 2012. Mr Meagher, it was claimed, made only a partial payment of €23,556 at that stage and the bank agreed to accept interest only repayments as negotiations continued.

When the sides failed to reach an agreement, Danske issued a pre-demand to Mr Meagher in July 2012 and requested the payments of arrears or a proposal for dealing with the debt. A final letter of demand was sent in January last.

The bank said Dublin City Council had in 2012 exercised a break clause in its lease with Mr Meagher for two of the properties on Charlemont Street and he claimed this had materially contributed to his inability to make repayments on the loans as they fell due.

Mr Meagher also claimed the risk of the council exercising its break clause was relayed to the bank when he entered into the loan agreement in 2011, the bank said.