Former Wexford hurler Paul Codd freed from prison

Paul Codd, a former Wexford hurler and All-Ireland medal winner, has been freed from jail after undertaking to co-operate with the official administering his bankruptcy and to facilitate the handover of leased farm machinery and other vehicles.

Mr Codd was jailed on Thursday over contempt of orders and undertakings to co-operate with official assignee Chris Lehane but returned to court on Friday evening seeking to purge his contempt.

Mr Lehane had sought the jailing order after saying Mr Codd had not co-operated or returned nine items of machinery leased by Friends First Finance or €460,000 worth of farm machinery leased by Deutsche Leasing Ireland.

On Friday, Mr Codd told Mr Lehane a number of the vehicles sought by leasing companies were stored in a shed at a relative’s property. He said he had sold one vehicle, a trailer, for €6,000 but could not recall the precise details of the Northern Ireland purchaser.

Another vehicle was impounded due to an insurance certificate being out of date and he believed others which he had sent for repair to different premises in Co Wexford had been repossessed by Friends First Finance, he said.

Counsel for that company said his understanding was the company had not repossessed any of nine vehicles it has leased to Mr Codd but he needed to clarify the position.

After an adjournment arising from the information provided to the court, Mr Lehane said progress had been made on several matters and he was prepared to trust Mr Codd would co-operate. Mr Lehane also said he had previously wrongly said Mr Codd had transferred an asest when it appeared a bank receiver had done so.

Ms Justice Caroline Costello said, if there had been early and timely co-operation by Mr Codd, there may have been less confusion about matters. She added she accepted it was unlikely Mr Codd had sought to transfer property in breach of his status as a bankrupt.

Mr Lehane said there were also discussions between the leasing companies and Mr Codd concerning recovery of the assets.

Counsel for Deutsche Leasing said they did not have sufficient trust in Mr Codd that its leased assets would be secured. An agent would attend premises of Mr Codd’s father on Saturday. His instructions were to seek that Mr Codd remain in jail until his side were in possession of the assets but, noting Mr Lehane’s view, his side would alternatively seek undertakings of co-operation by Mr Codd with recovery and delivery up of the machinery.

The judge asked Mr Codd to provide undertakings not to remove any of the vehicles overnight and to facilitate their handover to agents of the leasing companies on Saturday and on Tuesday next. Mr Codd provided those and other undertakings and also agreed to attend court on Monday for a review of developments.

Mr Codd, of Askinfarney, Clonroche, Co Wexford, was adjudicated bankrupt at the High Court in March 2013 over failure to satisfy a judgment secured against him in 2011 for €530,000. The combined debts of himself and his company, Paul Codd Ltd, are estimated at €4.9m.

On Thursday, Ms Justice Costello made orders committing him to Mountjoy Prison to July 27th for contempt arising from refusing to answer questions about his assets put to him by Mr Lehane.

Mr Codd was arrested earlier in Co Wexford and brought before the court by gardaí under a warrant issued in March 2014 because Mr Codd had not complied with undertakings to meet with Mr Lehane. The warrant was not executed until this week because Mr Codd was believed to be living outside the jurisdiction.

Mr Codd was committed to prison after he failed to answer questions put to him by Mr Lehane who said Mr Codd had failed to disclose details about his assets.

Previously, in December 2014, Mr Codd was briefly jailed for two days for non-compliance with the bankruptcy process. He was freed after giving undertakings to co-operate with Mr Lehane and return the leased machinery.

Mr Codd’s bankruptcy arose after David Deasey, a dairy farmer from Timoleague, Co Cork, sold Mr Codd 46 acres of land at Askinfarney for about €800,000. While a deposit of €40,000 was paid, Mr Codd had not completed the sale, the court heard.

Mr Deasey obtained a judgment of €530,326 against Mr Codd in 2011 and, when that was not satisfied, petitioned the court to have Codd adjudicated bankrupt.