A former Chinese restaurant employee who has been deported to Malaysia has denied that any of his assets - including a 1997 Mercedes Benz sport car and some £90,000 in bank accounts - were obtained by defrauding his employer.
In an affidavit read to the High Court yesterday, Mr Jeffrey Lam Weng Thye, of Selangor in Malaysia, also claimed his former employer, Mr Paul Man, whose Man Brothers Trading Company Ltd operates Chinese restaurants in Tullamore and Leixlip, Co Kildare, has little evidence to support the serious allegations of fraud.
Mr John Whelan SC, for Mr Lam Weng Thye, said all the claims against his client were purely circumstantial.
Counsel was opposing an application by Mr Patrick O'Connell, for Man Brothers, for an order restraining Mr Lam Weng Thye, or his agents, from disposing of the Mercedes car or from dealing with or reducing monies held in accounts.
Mr Justice Peter Kelly granted the order, which applies until the trial of proceedings. An interim order to the same effect was granted last November, a week after Mr Lam Weng Thye was deported.
At the earlier hearing, Mr O'Connell said it appeared Mr Lam Weng Thye was "very busy" while working for Mr Man and had amassed "a small fortune" while earning less than £8,000 a year.
In an affidavit Mr Paul Man, of Brooklawn, Finnstown Abbey, Lucan, Co Dublin, managing director of Man Brothers, said he believed the property and monies accumulated by the defendant were the proceeds of the sale of goods "stolen by the defendant from me while in my employment".
He was advised by his accountant that despite the level of business and turnover at his restaurants, there was a shortfall of money.
Mr Man believed the shortfall was likely to have been as a result of the defendant stealing his property and selling it.
Mr Man said he had employed the defendant as an assistant chef at his restaurant at St Mary's Buildings, Main Street, Leixlip, Co Kildare, from June 1996. He provided him with accommodation at River Forest, Leixlip.
After the defendant's arrest on November 21st last pending deportation, Mr Man said he had found in the defendant's room bottles of spirits, all of which were stocked at his restaurant, and documents including a registration certificate for a Merecedes Benz 230 SLK sports car and relating to bank accounts held by the defendant.
It appeared the defendant had £250 in a credit union, £3,000 in a bank account and some £37,600 in a building society account, Mr Man said.
In his affidavit, the defendant said he had worked in a number of Chinese restaurants since arriving in Ireland in 1990. His average take-home pay was £350 and he was always paid in cash. He said he worked for Man Brothers in their Leixlip restaurant from July 1994 and his take-home pay was £500 weekly.
He said bank accounts exhibited showed weekly lodgments greater than his £500 wages. The explanation was that in the years up to 1996 when he was working in Ireland he had saved up a cash fund but was initially cautious about lodging the money in Irish financial institutions.
However, in 1996 he felt reasonably confident his application for residency would be successful and decided to invest his savings in a house. To be eligible for a mortgage, he knew he would have to show sufficient funds and began to lodge his wages and different amounts of his cash fund.
While he was working in Leixlip, he said, he spent as little as £50 a week and was able to save between £400-450 from his wages, he said.
He said he bought a Mercedes car about May 1998 for £39,000 and sold a BMW for £25,000 for part exchange. He said he never made any effort to hide the fact he owned expensive cars.
In the time he worked for Man Brothers, there was never any accusation against him of pilferage, the defendant said. He was never told of any shortfall in the accounts or about stock going missing.