A High Court judge has told gardaí to enter by force, if necessary, the luxury home of a businessman to arrest him over failure to obey court orders aimed at executing a judgment against him for more than €28 million over unpaid property loans.
Mr Justice Peter Kelly said today he was satisfied, after hearing gardaí had called to the home of Mr Coughlan at Fastnet, Ardbrack, overlooking Kinsale Harbour some 10 times but were not admitted, that Mr Coughlan was evading arrest.
Detective Garda Jason Wallace had told the judge he believed there was someone in the detached house on occasions when he called but there had been no answer. He described the house as new and substantial, with an indoor swimming pool, and located in a “beautiful spot”.
He had seen two Shitsu dogs in the pantry, heard the crashing of plates on another occasion and there was also evidence a room was being painted, the detective said. His information also suggested Mr Coughlan’s wife may have been around in recent weeks but she was not answering phone calls.
Mr Justice Kelly said he would not permit Mr Coughlan to “play cat and mouse” with court orders and made an order that gardaí could enter the house by force if necessary and arrest Mr Coughlan if he was there. The businessman could also be in London or Portugal where relatives of his lived, the judge heard.
The judge said he would not have a defendant “thumbing his nose” at court orders and, if there had to be forcible entry, that would have to be done. Mr Coughlan had failed to swear an affidavit of his assets as ordered by the court and failed to live up to his responsibilities.
The judge said the order for the arrest of Mr Coughlan would remain in force until it was executed and he returned the matter to next week. If arrested, he will be brought before the court to explain why he should not be jailed for breach of the court orders.
Mr Justice Kelly said he hoped Mr Coughlan would “see sense” and realise there was nothing to be gained by playing cat and mouse with the court which was determined to see its orders were obeyed.
The judge had last month made an order directing gardaí to bring Mr Coughlan before the court for contempt of court orders directing him to supply a statement of his assets by March 22nd at the latest. The matter was returned to today when Eileen Barrington, for the investors, said gardai had been unable to execute it.
The investors had brought proceedings in the Commercial Court against Mr Coughlan, Smart Telecom purchaser Brendan Murtagh and Brian Madden, Well Road, Douglas, Cork over unpaid loans related to Polish property deals.
Mr Coughlan was the only one of the three who failed to supply a statement of assets sought by Loparco SA, a Luxemburg registered company through which the investors provided some €20 million for the Polish deals, to be managed by the Howard Holdings property group.
Loparco wanted the statements as part of its efforts to execute judgment orders for €28.1 million granted to it by the court last January. To date, all three defendants have had total judgments for more than €60 million entered against them in the Commercial Court.
