The plight of former high flying IPAS entrepreneur Jeffrey Leo seems to have taken a further turn for the worst in the High Court on Wednesday. One case due to be heard before Justice Mark Sanfey was put back to November.
The other case involving the Wennings claim of fraud and their concern over the liquidation of the assets of Steelworks which is the registered owner of Brogan Ventures was heard before Justice Martin Nolan.
Leo himself did not turn up for the hearing. Local people believe that he is no longer living in Tullamaine Castle which is close to the Dundrum House Hotel.
It was the latest episode of the saga in which Wenning Holdings are attempting to retrieve what they claim was more than $60 million (€51.43 million) which Leo, who is barred by the United States security commission, used for a whole series of investments in Irish property.
While Wenning Holdings was listed as the beneficial owner of the properties under the control of Brogan Capital Ventures and Steelworks, the Wennings have claimed that Leo transferred large amounts of company earnings to an overseas entity over which he had control. Leo denies all of this.
As we have reported recently on earlier hearings, an agreement that had seemed to be reached was challenged by Counsel for the Wennings who successfully sought a liquidation which has since resulted in the closure of the Dundrum House Hotel.
The future of the IPAS centre – which was not discussed in Court on Wednesday – remains unclear but there is local confidence that it will be closed. I emailed the Wennings last week asking them what their intentions were regarding the future of the IPAS centre if they recovered the property, but received no reply.
The Wennings had sought the liquidation as they feared that Leo was moving assets into another entity, Utmasta, whose ownership was unclear. In Court yesterday it was stated that Leo and his wife own 50% of Utmasta. There is still no evidence as to who owns the other 50% of the company.
Utmasta has a State contract for housing asylum claimants at Dundrum House Hotel.
A number of people from Dundrum who have been part of the opposition to the IPAS centre there attended the hearings and told Gript that the Court was told that the Utmasta contract was worth €300,000.
Counsel for the Wennings, Kelley Smith, told Justice David Nolan that while Leo had told the court in July that he had no involvement any more with Utmasta, it was claimed that Leo had at that very time been involved in attempting to distribute shares in that company to members of his family.
Smith, on behalf of the Wennings, has maintained that fraud has been committed against her clients and that it was a matter of urgency that matters are expedited before any further dealings are carried out that might be detrimental to the Wennings.
Justice Nolan told the Court that he had not come to a conclusion on the matter but appeared to agree with Smith on both the urgency of the matter and that it appeared that Leo had “misrepresented” his actual involvement in the beneficial ownership of Utmasta.
He will return tomorrow to decide on the status of the liquidator. This follows on the objections made to the current liquidator Interpath by both counsel for Leo and the representatives of Cabriz the finance company who claim to be owed a substantial amount of money from charges on the Dundrum property.