A SOLICITOR being pursued for €75 million by Bank of Ireland over unpaid loans has told the Commercial Court he and his wife received death threats last weekend, which gardaí are taking seriously.
Brian O’Donnell said someone had written saying they wanted to cut his wife’s throat and his own. Gardaí were looking into the matter and were taking it seriously, he said.
Paul Gardiner SC, for Bank of Ireland, said he was sorry to hear about the threats.
Mr O’Donnell also said “bad publicity” from proceedings brought against the couple by Bank of Ireland was “not helpful” and was destroying the value of property assets, even though the positions of the couple and the bank were “aligned”.
The bank’s actions made no commercial sense and would only guarantee the bank would get “very little, if anything”.
He said he would be in court in London on Friday for his application for a stay on charging orders obtained by Bank of Ireland which had “caused havoc” in relation to a valuable property at Westferry Circus. The stay was sought in the context of the couple having petitioned for bankruptcy in Britain, he said.
The examination of Mr O’Donnell about his assets began last Tuesday and is expected to conclude today. It is part of the bank’s efforts to recover some €75 million under judgment orders entered last December against him and his wife, Dr Mary Patricia O’Donnell, Gorse Hill, Vico Road, Killiney, over loans and guarantees on loans obtained for investments and refinancing of other loans.
Asked yesterday about his income, Mr O’Donnell said his annual income was about £120,000 and derived from management services provided by him in relation to the Westferry Circus property.
He rejected suggestions he had put trusts in place so as to divert to his children monies that would otherwise have been paid to him.
He also denied certain matters in his statement of affairs provided to the bank were “not credible” and said he believed the statement was correct. He had “no values in these things” to be able to pay back Bank of Ireland, he added.
Mr Gardiner said the bank was contending there were differences between statement of affairs submitted by Mr O’Donnell to the Commercial Court and a statement submitted as part of the couple’s application for bankruptcy in Britain.
Before he was questioned about the statement of affairs filed for the bankruptcy, both the judge and counsel advised Mr O’Donnell that providing false information in a bankruptcy petition is a criminal offence and he had a right to refuse to answer questions. Mr O’Donnell reserved his position on a small number of questions.
Asked about other statements of his assets provided in 2005 and 2006, Mr O’Donnell said a €5 million valuation put on art and antiques in the 2006 statement was wrong while a €7.5 million valuation on art and antiques in the 2006 statement was “ludicrous”.
While he and his wife collected pictures “like everyone else” over many years, those were not terribly valuable and anything in their Killiney home was owned by their children’s trust.
He said they got some €20,000 for the contents of the 62 Merrion Square property used as his law firm’s offices. Bank of Ireland now owned the contents of No 62, including the “best stained-glass windows outside Dublin Castle”, valuable high-backed Stradivarius chairs, mahogany doors and fireplaces valued about €1.5 million, he said.
Mr O’Donnell was asked detailed questions about ownership and management of three London properties – Westferry Circus and Columbus Courtyard at Canary Wharf, and London House, Barton Street.
There was no money coming through concerning Westferry Circus and he was in London last week trying to “rescue” it as Morgan Stanley had issued an event of default, he said. He learned for the first time last week that Morgan Stanley had put an interest swap in place until 2016, he added.
Mr Gardiner put to him, as a “leading corporate lawyer”, that he knew the difference between legal and beneficial ownership and knew what he was trying to achieve when drawing up trust documents under which beneficial ownership of a number of properties was transferred to his children.
Mr O’Donnell agreed he knew the difference between legal and beneficial ownership but added that he was a retired lawyer.
The court also heard, in proposals put to Bank of Ireland on behalf of the couple, that it was argued Mr O’Donnell would be “a far better receiver” for the bank than anyone else and it should leave him to do what he had been “enormously successful” at over the past 33 years.
