French authorities investigating forged certificates allegedly linked to Catherine O'Brien

Catherine O'Brien is currently the subject of an arrest warrant, but her whereabouts are unknown. Picture: Irish Mail on Sunday

French stud authorities have contacted Irish authorities to establish if a horse being sold in France was the subject of a forged covering certificate.

The investigation by the French authorities included reference to Catherine O’Brien from Dungarvan, Co Waterford — the Cork-born woman wanted for questioning by gardaí investigating allegations of fraud in the sale of horses in the past three to four years.

Irish authorities were contacted in 2018 about a colt that, it was claimed, was born in Ireland. However, there was no record of the animal having originated in Ireland, according to industry sources.

Ms O’Brien is currently the subject of an arrest warrant, after she was convicted in her absence of breaches of animal welfare legislation. She is currently taking a judicial review of the decision and the case is up for mention in the High Court on November 29.

Her whereabouts are currently unknown and she has not been seen at her home in Ballinroad, Dungarvan, for several months.

The complaints under investigation by gardaí relate to horse investment schemes through a website, set up to target people interested in thoroughbred horses. 

Another relates to a scheme involving investment related to a property which was for sale close to La Rochelle in France, also related to horses.

The website, which no longer exists, carried a list of services including racehorse purchase and management, and investment opportunities. The blurb regarding investment opportunities read that private clients were being provided with “the opportunity to acquire permanent residency in Ireland through the Government-backed ‘Immigrant Investor Programme’.” The blurb added:

We currently have a small number of opportunities for our clients to invest in Ireland, gaining residency in return.

 The website also offered select “equine consignment for private clients to ensure that each horse will be well presented at sales, looking and feeling its best”.

The website gave an address in Merrion Square as the “global office” of the company. A phone number on the website no longer belongs to Catherine O’Brien, but is one of the numbers she was known to use in the past.

In February, the High Court ruled that a 151-registered Land Rover Discovery could be seized by the Criminal Assets Bureau after bureau officers alleged that Catherine O’Brien had bought it through the proceeds of criminal frauds.

She appealed the decision by Mr Justice Alexander Owens and it was listed for directions in the Court of Appeal in Dublin on June 24. However, a spokesman for the Courts Service said the appeal never actually went in for hearing. Instead, it was struck out, subject to an ‘Unless Order’, on July 15.