The liquidator of a company set up to teach English to foreign nationals, primarily from China, yesterday secured a interim High Court injunction restraining a director of the company from reducing her assets below €150,000.
The liquidator, Mr Barry Forrest, said he believed some €1 million had been repatriated to China for the benefit of Ms Liu Hui, Oakdale Park, Ballycullen, Dublin, against whom he sought the injunction, and/or Soi Ming Hoang, both directors of Shamrock Language School Ltd (in voluntary liquidation).
From his inquiries, Mr Forrest said he believed a substantial sum of monies should properly have been allocated to the company and lodged to its bank account.
There appeared to be no adequate record of the company having lodged the enrolment fees of its students to the company bank account. He believed this amount could be €750,000.
In an affidavit, Mr Forrest said his preliminary investigations into the company revealed that many students did not in fact attend the classes provided by the company but used the company and its ability to obtain visas for its students as an opportunity of coming to Ireland and working and getting a visa.
In seeking the injunction, Mr Forrest said he was fearful that without the order, Ms Hui would take steps to frustrate his efforts to recover monies belonging to the company which, he said, had been misappropriated by Ms Hui.
He said the company was established in July 2001 to teach English, mainly to Chinese nationals. It was based in Hardwicke Street, Dublin, and later moved to Hatch Street.
Students would enrol for a fee of €3,800 and the company would issue them with student visas, allowing them to work part-time for up to 20 hours a week.
Mr Forrest said that having interviewed the directors, they had informed him the only property of the company was stored in a self-storage unit at North Park Retail Park, Finglas, Dublin. He was also told no books or records had been kept by the company.
Nothing in the unit referred to could be considered to form the financial books and records of the company.
He understood the Garda National Immigration Bureau had discovered cash totalling €130,690 at Ms Hui's premises at Oakdale Park, Ballycullen, Dublin. He also understood the Criminal Assets Bureau had raised a tax assessment of €375,000 in respect of the defendants concerning their personal liability to the Revenue Commissioners.
Mr Forrest said Ms Hui was the owner of a property at Oakdale Park which had recently been sold through Gunne Auctioneers for €375,000. The sale was due to close imminently.
His fear was that the defendant would take steps to dissipate the assets and put them beyond the reach of the court.
In granting the interim injunction returnable to Wednesday next to Mr Garry McCarthy, for Mr Forrest, Mr Justice Kelly suggested that the Criminal Assets Bureau be notified of the order.