Quinn to be subject of €1.6bn court judgment

ON MONDAY next Seán Quinn, formerly believed to be Ireland’s richest businessman, is expected to be the subject of one of the largest summary judgment orders ever made against an individual.

Mr Justice Peter Kelly in the Commercial Court is expected to grant a summary judgment order against the Cavan businessman for €1.6 billion.

Already, on Wednesday, the court ordered that he repay €417 million to the Irish Bank Resolution Corporation (IBRC), formerly Anglo Irish Bank.

The total debt of €2.1 billion is likely to be one of the largest summary judgment orders ever made against an individual.

Wednesday’s €417 million order was the largest ever made against an individual by an Irish court.

Yesterday the High Court in Belfast was told by Northern Ireland’s official receiver that he would not be opposing any further judgment orders from Mr Justice Kelly against Mr Quinn.

On Wednesday, Mr Justice Kelly held off on imposing all of the €2.1 billion judgment order against Mr Quinn out of deference to the Northern Ireland official receiver.

Mr Quinn told the Belfast courts two weeks ago that he had assets of approximately €50,000 when he successfully applied for bankruptcy there.

Yesterday IBRC opened a challenge in the High Court in Belfast to the granting of bankruptcy to Mr Quinn, on the grounds that his “centre of main interest” was not in Derrylinn, Co Fermanagh, where the Quinn Group has its head office, but rather was in Ballyconnell, Co Cavan, where Mr Quinn lives.

Mr Justice Donal Deeny said the hearing on the dispute would take place on December 19th and 20th next, and said Mr Quinn should make sure he was available on those dates in case oral evidence was required.

Paul McLaughlin, representing Mr Quinn, said time would be required to compile information on how the Quinn businesses operated but Mark Horner QC, for the bank, said the matter was one of “considerable urgency”.

Mr Justice Deeny said Mr Quinn should reply to the affidavit filed by IBRC by December 7th.

The court was told that the dispute will involve consideration of European case law and that the case may be decided without the hearing of oral evidence.

The IRBC said it would inform the High Court in Dublin of what was occurring in Belfast.

While bankrupts in the Republic have to wait 12 years before emerging from bankruptcy, those in Northern Ireland can emerge from their debts after just two.

An interview with Mr Quinn was carried in yesterday's edition of a Fermanagh newspaper, the Impartial Reporter,in which he said he had been "very hurt" by the events of the past two years, which have seen his Quinn Group businesses being wrenched from his control by the IRBC.

Court proceedings in a number of jurisdictions between the bank and the Quinn family continue over international properties the bank wants to seize because of the non-repayment of loans.

“I feel what happened to the family and the area over the last two years shouldn’t have happened,” the former billionaire was quoted as saying.

“We were a very successful company and [we] feel very hard done by. What I have learned in my life is you have to be a good loser as well as a good winner. We are determined to move on and rebuild the family’s reputation over the next five to 10 years, and try to undo some of the injustices we feel has been done to us”.

Mr Quinn said he was “paying the price” for having been a “home bird” over the years who had not gone to social events in Dublin and London.

“I just stayed around home; took it easy with the local lads, went to the local pub and put the wellington boots on to walk around the mountains,” said the businessman, who at one stage secretly owned up to 28 per cent of Anglo Irish Bank.

He said he did not accept that the former Quinn Group businesses were unprofitable.