A court has been told that a former millionaire developer does not have the money for bail after he appeared on two charges of wasting Garda time.
At Strokestown District Court yesterday, a solicitor for Kevin McGeever requested that bail of his own bond of €2,500 and independent surety of €10,000 be reduced. Judge Geoffrey Browne refused the request and the Mr McGeever (68), Nirvana, Ballywinna, Craughwell, Co Galway, was remanded in custody with consent to bail. He will appear before Harristown District Court tomorrow.
A minimum of €3,000 of the €10,000 bail was required to be cash, but defence solicitor Joan Devine, acting as agent for a Dublin firm of solicitors, said Mr McGeever was not in a position to come up with that amount of cash.
The charges follow a Garda investigation launched in January this year after Mr McGeever was found on a roadside in Co Leitrim. He had been reported missing in May 2012 and was found by a passerby.
Gardaí began an investigation into an allegation of false imprisonment. In March they arrested Mr McGeever and questioned him at Gort Garda station in Co Galway.
He was released and a file was sent to the Director of Public Prosecutions, leading to his arrest in Dublin on Tuesday.
Mr McGeever did not speak during the brief six-minute hearing.
Garda John Keating gave evidence of arresting Mr McGeever at 4.50pm in Clontarf, Dublin, on Tuesday and conveying him to Gort Garda station in Co Galway where he was charged at 10.35pm on Tuesday night.
Mr McGeever was charged under sections 12 (a) and 12 (b) of the Criminal Law Act 1976, relating to wasting Garda time between January 29th and February 28th this year.
Garda Keating said Mr McGeever made no reply to either charge. Garda Insp Pádraig Jones made an application during the brief court appearance that Mr McGeever be remanded in custody with consent to bail.