THE BRITISH authorities are seeking the extradition of an All-Ireland senior hurling winner for his alleged involvement in a multi-million euro fraud where eggs were falsely passed off to British consumers as free range or organic.
They are seeking the surrender of former Galway hurler and businessman Pearse Piggott on charges including conspiracy to defraud, false accounting and perverting the course of justice.
At the High Court yesterday, Mr Piggott (48), Ballylennon, Gort, Co Galway, who runs the egg distribution firm Pearse Piggott and Sons, was remanded in custody with consent to bail.
In a warrant seeking his surrender, it is claimed that Mr Piggott was involved in a scheme where eggs were misrepresented as being free range and organic.
It is also claimed that production numbers on the eggs were altered and that the name of the suppliers was incorrect.
In a European arrest warrant endorsed by the High Court in February, it is claimed that Keith Owen of the firm Heart of England Eggs, based near Bromsgrove, Worcestershire, falsified documentation to show his firm sold a large quantity of eggs laid by caged hens to Mr Piggott and his firm.
Mr Piggott, it is alleged, then supplied false invoices and statements of accounts to Mr Owen to show that he had sold free-range or organic eggs of a similar value back to Mr Owen’s company.
This, it is claimed, enabled Mr Owen to offset the fictitious sale of the cage eggs against the fictitious purchase from Mr Piggott.
It is also claimed that the investigation by the British authorities of Mr Owen’s business revealed that more than half of six million dozen-cartons of eggs passed off as organic or free-range eggs came from caged hens.
Mr Justice Patrick McCarthy granted Mr Piggott bail on conditions including that he sign on with local gardaí, surrender his passport and all travel documents, live at his home address, and provide a surety of €10,000.