Dubai sum of €700,000 not yet transferred to liquidator, court told

A sum of about €700,000 held in a bank account of a Dubai company has not yet been transferred to the liquidator of a related Irish forestry investment firm which was subject of a Garda investigation, the High Court has heard.

Declan de Lacy, liquidator of Irish-registered Arden Forestry Management, remained confident the money held in the account of UAE-registered firm GTD International Ltd would be returned to Ireland in the near future, the court was told.

Mr De Lacy says the funds in the account belong to Arden, which is involved in investment in Irish forestry.

He got freezing orders from Mr Justice Tony O’Connor last November over fears the money may have been dissipated. Proceedings were also brought in the UAE courts over the account.

Arden, it is claimed, raised €4 million from 132 UK investors. The court heard the company was to use the funds to buy forestry in Ireland but only €200,000 was spent on forestry.

Some of the investors funds, estimated to be about €1.5 million, were transferred to an account of GTD, which is linked to Arden.

Struck off

When the matter returned before Mr Justice O’Connor on Tuesday, Brian Conroy, for Mr De Lacy, said it had not been possible for the liquidator to get the money back from Dubai because GTD had been formally struck off the companies’ register there for failing to file returns.

Mr Conroy said his client was making efforts to have the company restored to the register and, once that was done, the money would be moved back to Ireland for distribution to Arden’s creditors.

Garret Byrne, for Garret Hevey, a director of GTD and of Arden, said his client would continue to co-operate with Mr De Lacy so the funds in the GTD account were transferred back to Arden. The judge adjourned the matter to July.

Mr De Lacy, of PKF O’Connor, Leddy & Holmes, was appointed liquidator of Arden on the application of the directors after hearing it was insolvent and unable to pay its debts. The move followed a Garda investigation into the firm.

The High Court previously heard Mr Hevey had, in a sworn statement for the petition to appoint the liquidator, said he and his fellow directors denied any wrongdoing.