A couple have been ordered by the High Court not to reduce their assets below €1.2 million arising from what a liquidator claims was the fraudulent transfer of assets of their company to a UK firm.

Joseph Martin Dowling and Margaret Bernadette Dowling, directors of CU Plus Technologies (in voluntary liquidation) must not reduce assets, either within or outside the State, below that figure pending further order.

Insolvency practitioner Myles Kirby was appointed liquidator of CU Plus, which provides computer systems for banks and financial institutions, in 2014.

Since then, he has discovered a deficit of €2.28 million in its accounts, Gerard Meehan (instructed by Paul Barry), on behalf of the liquidator, told the court.

The company traded very healthily until 2012 when it had a turnover of €4.2 million. By the start of 2013, turnover “fell off a cliff” and for the first six months of that year, it was down to €600,000.