A GOLF course design company has secured court orders related to bank accounts held by another company which owns an 18-hole championship golf course and luxury holiday complex in Blarney, Co Cork, in an effort to compel repayment of debts of €288,306.
MF Irish Golf Design Ltd applied for the debt attachment orders to Mr Justice Peter Kelly in the Commercial Court after it complained Kelcar Developments Ltd had failed to discharge monies due to it.
MF had secured a court order last December enforcing an arbitrator’s award for a total of €678,268 for work done by MF on the golf course at Muskerry East, Blarney. Last April, after MF threatened it would bring a petition to wind up Kelcar if the monies were not paid, Kelcar agreed to pay the monies on a phased basis.
Kelcar paid €400,000 last April, but MF claims it has failed to pay €288,306 due on October 18th last.
Kelcar had informed MF on October 20th that a post-dated cheque of October 18th, 2008, for €288,306 would not be honoured, MF principal director Mel Flanagan said in an affidavit.
MF is now seeking to enforce the judgment by getting orders requiring Bank of Scotland Ireland and Allied Irish Bank to pay out to MF monies which, MF believes, are held on behalf of Kelcar in accounts in both banks.
On Thursday, Kelcar secured an order from Mr Justice Kelly attaching the debt due to MF to whatever monies are held in those accounts up to the amount due.
The judge returned the matter to Tuesday, when MF will apply to have the banks pay out the monies.
In an affidavit in the case, Mr Flanagan said his company had had significant difficulty securing repayment of the monies owed.
He said he also believed that Kelcar had significant resources and had credit balances in its accounts with Bank of Scotland Ireland and Allied Irish Bank.
The proceedings arose from a contract of December 21st, 2004, between MF and Kelcar for designing the golf course.
Kelcar had sought planning permission for an 18-hole championship golf course, 56 luxury two-bedroom holiday cottages and a four-star, 63-bedroomed hotel on lands owned by the company at Blarney.
Mr Flanagan said the December 2004 contract provided for him to design and construct the golf course for a fee of €2.9 million, excluding VAT.
He said Kelcar appointed a liaison officer to act on its behalf, who had constantly interfered in work beyond the terms of the contract. Kelcar had later failed to meet its financial obligations to his company.
Kelcar had alleged MF failed to carry out the work properly or in accordance with the timescale set out in the contract.