Judge wants couple to explain assets disparities

SOLICITOR BRIAN O’Donnell and his wife, Dr Mary Patricia O’Donnell, have been ordered to appear before the Commercial Court next month to explain disparities in their asset statements, despite being declared bankrupt in London yesterday.

Mr Justice Peter Kelly granted an application to Bank of Ireland, which is owed €75 million by the couple, to have them examined on their assets on April 17th.

The couple were not in court or represented yesterday. The judge was told that they were made bankrupt in London that morning.

Mr Justice Kelly said there was “a sense of deja vu”, as this was the same way the couple had dealt with the court in December.

He said it was “less than satisfactory” that they did not attend a court hearing in December and that Mr O’Donnell subsequently gave a media interview complaining about the bank.

The O’Donnells have claimed in the bankruptcy proceedings that their centre of main business interest was the UK, although this has been contested by the bank.

Bank of Ireland secured a court order for €71.5 million against the O’Donnells over unpaid loans and guarantees on property investments after they failed to fulfil a March 2011 settlement agreement.

The amount they owe the bank has since risen to €75.5 million.

The bank said it was “extremely concerning” that a statement of assets filed by the couple last month directly contradicted a March 2011 statement and all earlier statements given to the bank during its relationship with them.

The bank had been told that a property at Westferry Circus in Canary Wharf, London – leased to Morgan Stanley bank – was 100 per cent owned by the O’Donnells.

Last month the couple said the property was owned by a company, of which Mr O’Donnell is the sole shareholder, but that share is held in trust for their son, Blake.

Contrary to an earlier statement that they owned 74 per cent of Columbus Yard, a building in Canary Wharf let to Credit Suisse, the couple said last month that the property has always been beneficially owned by Blake O’Donnell.

Another property, on Barton Street in London, was not owned by the couple, as previously stated, but by their children Blake, Bruce, Blaise and Alexandra.

The bank was told last month that a guarantee to the bank on the family’s property at Gorse Hill, Killiney, Co Dublin, was likely to be challenged by the children, the beneficial owners of the property.

Bank of Ireland’s director of the specialist property group Des Hanrahan said this was “an entirely novel proposition with no substance whatsoever, and raises serious concerns for the bank as it contemplates litigation against it”.

The property was said to be worth €6-€7 million, down from €30 million in 2006.

The bank has raised queries about the couple’s investments in a property in Washington DC, the Fatburen office block in Stockholm and a ski chalet in the French resort of Courcheval.

Mr Hanrahan said the O’Donnells’ refusal to provide a complete and verifiable account of their financial affairs was blocking the bank’s enforcement of last year’s judgment of €71.5 million.