A HIGH COURT judge has today granted a further order to effectively freeze all assets of Paul Kelly, former CEO of suicide charity Console, and his wife Patricia.
Justice Paul Gilligan today granted the order requested by Console’s interim CEO David Hall. He also agreed that the Kellys’ son Tim should be bound by today’s order and those made previously.
The Kellys, and Paul Kelly’s sister Joan McKenna, were today given the opportunity to respond to the injunction taken against them last week.
That order was granted last Thursday by Justice Paul Gilligan to the suicide charity’s interim CEO David Hall to prevent the three from interfering with the charity’s records or finances.
Joan McKenna wants her name removed from that injunction, saying that she was never a director of Console – her affidavit today, the court heard, is suggesting that her signature may have been forged on company documents that list her as such.
Today’s hearing saw the filing of two affidavits. One was on behalf of Console seeking the freezing of all the Kellys’ assets.
The second was the aforementioned one filed on behalf of Joan McKenna, who is seeking to have her name removed from the initial injunction.
Suggestions that “signature was forged”
Counsel for McKenna, Jim Bridgeman BL, said that his client had never been a director of Console, and that the only relationship between her and the person listed on documents at the Companies Registry Office as being a director of Console is their name.
“My client has suffered immense distress and untold reputational damage as a result of this,” he said.
Counsel for Console Martin Hayden mentioned briefly that “the affidavit suggests that her signature was forged” in relation to the listing of Joan McKenna as a director. He said he had no objections to the two-week stay requested by Bridgeman “so we can investigate the matter and clear it up very quickly”.
Judge Gilligan granted Bridgeman two weeks to flesh out the details of how Joan McKenna came to be listed as a director of Console. Her name remains in place on the initial injunction, but has not been added to today’s new orders concerning the Kellys’ assets.
“Web of deceit”
Patricia Kelly was present in court for the hearing, the first time any of those named in last week’s order has been present for any of the proceedings.
This morning’s High Court hearing also saw the first appearance of legal representation on behalf of Paul and Patricia Kelly, in the guise of solicitor James MacGuill.
In filing the new affidavit today seeking to freeze the Kelly’s assets, Console interim CEO David Hall said there had been a “tactical and considered web of deceit” centered around the Kellys.
Hayden said that Hall is now seeing further orders encompassing all the assets of Paul and Patricia Kelly, including any directorships or companies that they may have been established in relation to Console.
Hayden made mention of one specific item – a Paypal account linked to Paul and Patricia Kelly, for which he requested account details, login details, and passwords, along with the details of any transfers undertaken by the Kellys in the last six years.
He said:
Each day we find additional information concerning this case. My sympathy is with the hard-working staff of Console. 50% of recent calls to the charity have been from members of the public wishing them well.
Hayden said that, while he was assured that all information handed over by the Kellys last Saturday constituted the entirety of the documentation and books of Console, “I now believe this to be untrue”.
“I have been informed by staff of an interest on behalf of the Kellys in a property in Oughterard, Co Galway, and also in other properties in Dublin, Cork, Tralee, and elsewhere,” he said.
Hayden said that the Kellys had breached last week’s court order, and that both had been present at a lock-up in Naas containing Console documentation in the interim.
He mentioned also that Paul Kelly is currently an inpatient at a psychiatric unit.
Yesterday, Hall secured an order from the High Court to break the lock on the Naas container and had removed a huge quantity of documentation.
Counsel for Console then reiterated the credit card expenses amassed by the Kellys over the past four years, most of which is contained in the ongoing HSE audit of the charity.
Tim Kelly
Many of the expenses listed were amassed by Paul and Patricia Kelly’s son, Tim. Hayden thus requested that Tim Kelly be added to the existing order in place, and also the new order he was requesting and all subsequent orders. This request was granted by Mr Justice Gilligan.
“Tim Kelly’s name ought to be added to the orders as he was directly involved in the lavish spending by the charity,” he told the court.
Speaking on behalf of the Kellys, Jim MacGuill said he had “no objections whatsoever” to the orders being requested by Hall and Console, but he asked for two weeks to provide all the information that was being requested.
Hayden objected to this saying “this is a very serious matter”. He added:
We have found in a short period of time that [Paul and Patricia Kelly] are untrustworthy. We have had no explanation as to why Mrs Kelly cannot furnish us with certain details. Mr MacGuill’s clients have already breached one court order. This is a charity, money has been donated willingly by citizens, and we have no transparency as to where it’s gone.
Both parties eventually agreed that MacGuill should furnish counsel for Console with all details contained in today’s order by next Monday, with a fresh hearing to be held next Tuesday at 10.30am.
Mr Justice Gilligan agreed that it was “appropriate” that Tim Kelly be added to all existing orders and all subsequent ones.
It was likewise agreed that the order freezing all the Kellys assets should last for a period of six years, but that the start point for that period should be January 2012, the beginning of the HSE audit into the charity.
Hayden also requested that the main Console charity bank account be unfrozen as “people can’t make donations at present”.
Speaking after the hearing, David Hall said he was satisfied with how things had gone. “We got everything that we were looking for,” he said.
Comments are closed on this article as the case remains before the courts
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