A BUSINESSMAN has been jailed after a High Court judge in Dublin found he was in contempt of court for failing to comply with orders to hand over machinery used on construction projects in the Middle East.
Ms Justice Mary Laffoy ordered that father of four Donal Rigney be committed to Mountjoy Prison until he purged his contempt and complied with the order.
The judge rejected his claim that he was not in a position to return the machinery to finance providers Lombard Ireland. Rigney had claimed the items were the subject of criminal proceedings in Dubai after being transferred to other companies without his consent.
Lombard brought proceedings against Rigney, of Gortacur, Mount Bolus, Tullamore, Co Offaly, and his company, Donal Rigney Ltd, arising out of the failure to return 17 pieces of machinery, including dumper trucks, cranes and excavators, located in Dubai. Last May, the High Court ordered Rigney to hand over the machinery to Lombard’s agent in Dubai.
However, this was not done. The machinery, worth about €2 million, was subject to lease agreements between Lombard and the defendants. Lombard sought the return of the machinery after payments due were not made.
Yesterday Gemma Carroll, for Lombard, said her client had serious issues about Rigney’s credibility. They had received several versions of events from him but did not know what to believe.
Counsel said Rigney had failed to disclose in a sworn affidavit the existence of legal proceedings in Dubai’s civil court concerning the machinery or that there was any third-party interest in the items. The failure to disclose that information resulted in the court being misled, counsel added.
Counsel said Lombard suspected the machinery was in use on a project being undertaken by a company of Rigney’s in the neighbouring state of Oman.
Suzanne Boylan, for Rigney, said her client was in a position to return four items; he was unable to deliver the remainder. She denied the machinery was being used in Oman, and sought an adjournment to allow Rigney time to resolve matters.
The judge said Rigney had played “ducks and drakes” with the court, and it was “clearly the case” he had “misled the court”.
The judge said Lombard’s suspicions about Mr Rigney’s version of events were “well-founded”.
