ACC ASSET Finance has been granted a High Court injunction restraining Cork-based Slattery Precast Ltd from disposing of trucks, plant and machinery worth more than €500,000.

Robert Beatty, counsel for De Lage Landen Ireland Company, which trades as ACC Asset Finance, told Mr Justice John Hedigan that the money was due for instalments, arrears and interest on leasing deals for machinery worth almost €1 million.

John Dillon, the collection and recovery executive of ACC Asset Finance, said Slattery Precast Ltd, of Coolnakilla, Fermoy, Co Cork, had been asked to make the seven machines – Volvo and DAF loaders, trucks and concrete mixers – available to the finance company for collection but had failed to do so.

There had been some communications from Slattery Precast with a view to its making reduced repayments but the company had not made any satisfactory proposals and would not confirm the whereabouts of the vehicles, Mr Dillon added.

Mr Dillon said Slattery Precast had indicated earlier it was prepared to return the bank’s assets voluntarily or to allow them to be collected but this had not happened.

He said the machinery would continue to depreciate in value and may be worthless before a High Court trial for its recovery which may be some years away.

He was aware of cases before the court in which financial institutions had been criticised for failing to mitigate their losses by taking all steps to secure possession of their assets at the earliest possible state with a view to selling them and applying a credit to the defendant’s account.

Mr Justice Hedigan granted the bank an injunction directing Slattery Precast to disclose the whereabouts of the equipment.

The injunction also restrains the company from interfering with the bank’s right to repossess or dispose of the equipment.