BANKRUPT BUSINESSMAN Seán Quinn, once Ireland’s richest man, has made Irish legal history after being ordered to repay a total of more than €2 billion to the Irish Bank Resolution Corporation (IBRC), the largest summary judgment amount yet entered in the courts.
Bank chief executive Mike Aynsley was in the Commercial Court yesterday when Mr Justice Peter Kelly, who last week made €417 million summary judgment against Mr Quinn, granted the bank’s application for additional summary judgment orders totalling about €1.7 billion against the businessman.
The orders arose mainly from guarantees executed by Mr Quinn over loans to various Quinn companies to acquire property here and in several countries overseas, including India and Russia.
Mr Quinn voluntarily filed for bankruptcy in Northern Ireland on November 11th last, nine days after the bank issued its proceedings and two days before they were due before the Commercial Court.
IBRC, formerly Anglo Irish Bank, has since brought proceedings in the North seeking to annul his adjudication as a bankrupt.
The application for summary orders had been adjourned twice to facilitate consideration of the matter by the Official Receiver for Northern Ireland.
Mr Quinn did not attend court for the hearing, which lasted about half an hour.
Paul Gallagher SC, for the bank, said the Official Receiver had indicated by e-mail he was making no further application in the matter.
The Official Receiver had also informed Mr Quinn’s solicitors, if their client wished to defend the bank’s proceedings, he would have to provide the receiver with an indemnity to ensure the receiver would have no liability for costs incurred in any such defence.
Mr Gallagher applied for summary judgment in various sums sought in three different sets of proceedings against Mr Quinn.
Giving judgment, Mr Justice Kelly said he had read the vast documents in the case related to the various loans and guarantees and these displayed no evidence of any defence to the bank’s claims. He also noted no opposition was being advanced.
In the circumstances, he was satisfied the bank was entitled to judgment in the additional “very large” sums sought and made orders entering summary judgment in sums totalling a further €1.7 billion against Mr Quinn.
In the first case, Mr Justice Kelly entered judgment for sums of €1 billion; $589,283,096 and ¥13,833,452,996 claimed under a deed of guarantee and indemnity of November 2007 in which Mr Quinn guaranteed the liabilities of Quinn Finance related to loans made to finance ventures in Russia, India and other places.
In the second case, the judge made summary judgment orders arising from guarantees executed by Mr Quinn in 2003, 2005 and 2007 over loans made to a number of Quinn companies.
In the third action, judgment for €3,055,715 was entered against Mr Quinn arising from €3 million personal borrowings of Mr Quinn and his wife Patricia.
A claim against Ms Quinn has been adjourned to next month.
Mr Justice Kelly previously ruled the summary judgment proceedings did not interfere with the Northern Ireland courts in adjudicating on all matters pertaining to Mr Quinn’s bankruptcy.
If the bankruptcy stood, IBRC would have to follow the prescribed procedures for proving its debt in accordance with the law and practice of Northern Ireland and the bank accepted that, the judge noted.
Businessman's reaction: 'Pointless and vindictive'
THE BANKRUPT businessman Seán Quinn yesterday expressed his disappointment at the judgment for almost €1.7 billion issued against him in the Dublin courts.
He said that since he had already been declared bankrupt in a Belfast court, “I was effectively unable to defend these proceedings”.
Mr Quinn said it was well known generally that members of his family were disputing the loans through a High Court action in Dublin.
He said yesterday’s action by the Irish Bank Resolution Corporation was pointless, self-serving and vindictive.
“In no way does it improve the bank’s prospects of recovering money for the taxpayer,” he said.
He said the IBRC’s attempt to overturn his bankruptcy in the Belfast courts was further evidence “of their disregard for public funds”.
“It is becoming all the more apparent that there is absolutely no regard for the wasting of public funds to pursue pointless legal appeals which [are] of no possible financial benefit.
“It is clear that the motivation for this appeal is to ensure that I could never possibly create another single job again in my lifetime, as they may feel that this would be a PR embarrassment that they could not afford.”
He said it was disappointing that the IBRC was using its time to pursue a personal vendetta against him while making no apparent effort to stabilise the Quinn Group.
– COLM KEENA
