Grain farmer fails to have injunction lifted

A farmer has failed in a High Court bid to have a mareva injunction lifted against his 900-acre grain harvest and other assets.

The freezing order had been obtained by Co Wicklow seed supplier, Quinns of Baltinglass Ltd, against Co Laois farmer Jim Smith and his firm Nujmij Ltd.

The court had been told Mr Smith’s farming activities had net book assets of €2.9m and he made a profit of €122,740 last year.

In an affidavit he told the court he and his wife June owed €3,273,000 to banks which expected them to make annual repayments of just under €250,000. He said he paid an annual bill of €161,000 for lease of machinery and in respect of credit management and grain future sales he had a commitment of about €664,250. He was spending €4,000 a day on diesel to harvest his crops.

Mr Justice Daniel O’Keeffe, refusing yesterday to lift the injunction, said he did not know the basis on which Mr Smith’s figures had been prepared. The judge, directing continuation of the mareva injunction, said he felt it was legitimate for the court to draw an inference that the establishment of Nujmij had been in a bid to thwart repaying the debt.

Eugene Gleeson, counsel for Quinns of Baltinglass, said Mr Smith was owed money in lieu of supplies of grain to Glanbia Ltd but Judge O’Keeffe told him this was an asset of Nujmij and would now be caught by his client’s injunction.