Bankrupt hurler Codd may be jailed again over non-compliance

Former All-Ireland winning Wexford hurler Paul Codd faces the prospect of being sent back to prison again for his alleged refusal to co-operate with his bankruptcy.

Mr Justice Brian McGovern was told at the High Court yesterday Mr Codd had not complied with undertakings given to the court last month to meet the court-appointed official in charge of his bankruptcy, Chris Lehane.

Last December, Mr Codd, of Askinfarney, Clonroche, Co Wexford, who did not attend court yesterday, was briefly jailed for alleged non-compliance with the bankruptcy process.

He was released after providing a statement of affairs to the official assignee and promising to co-operate.

He subsequently claimed he was coerced into giving undertakings to the court to co-operate with his bankruptcy in a bid to avoid spending the festive period behind bars.

Last month, Mr Codd gave sworn undertakings, before Mr Justice Gerard Hogan, to co-operate with Mr Lehane and also to return items of machinery which had been leased by Friends First Finance to Mr Codd’s now dissolved company, Paul Codd Ltd.

Yesterday, Mr Lehane told the court that, despite giving an undertaking to do so, Mr Codd had not attended at pre-arranged meetings at the official assignee’s offices in Dublin.

Mr Lehane said the meetings were set up so the former hurler could provide evidence to corroborate claims made in his statement of affairs. Mr Lehane said this was particularly relevant given Mr Codd’s claim that he was pressurised into making a statement of affairs.

In light of his refusal and the continued failure to co-operate, Mr Lehane said Mr Codd had breached his undertakings and “was in contempt of court” and he was bringing a motion seeking Mr Codd’s attachment and committal to prison.

The court also heard Mr Codd had failed to comply with an undertaking to return machinery leased by Friends First Finance.

A man who said he represented Mr Codd, but was not a lawyer, asked to address the court. He said Mr Codd was currently “out of the jurisdiction”.

However, Mr Justice McGovern told the man he had no right to speak on Mr Codd’s behalf. If Mr Codd wished to make representations to court, he could do so by attending in person, he said.

The judge said given the seriousness of the motion, the case should be adjourned to next month.