Progress in sale of Drumm home

A NUMBER of orders made by the High Court yesterday are expected to help clear the way for the sale of former Anglo Irish Bank chief executive David Drumm’s former family home in Malahide by the US official administering his bankruptcy.

Ms Justice Elizabeth Dunne made formal orders yesterday arising from her decision last week that the Irish courts will formally recognise the US bankruptcy proceedings and assist the US trustee, Kathleen Dwyer, in that bankruptcy.

On the application of Bernard Dunleavy, the judge made an order that Mr Drumm’s interest in his former family home at Abington, Malahide, valued at €1.2 million, is vested in the trustee. The judge also ordered a vesting certificate to be lodged with the Properties Registration Office.

Following the orders, Mr Justice Peter Kelly will deal at the Commercial Court today with proceedings related to the property and also with an action in which Anglo is seeking orders requiring Mr Drumm repay loans of €8m.

The US trustee may indicate whether she intends to prosecute Mr Drumm’s counter-claim to Anglo’s proceedings in which he is seeking some €2.6m in salary, pension and deferred bonus payments and damages, including for “mental distress”.

Those proceedings, plus the separate action by the bank against Mr Drumm and his wife Lorraine over his disputed transfer of the Abington property into Ms Drumm’s sole ownership, will be mentioned today.

Both cases had been adjourned pending the decision and orders by Ms Justice Dunne. An injunction restraining Ms Drumm dealing with or disposing of the Abington property has also been continued to today.

Because Ms Drumm last month gave an irrevocable undertaking to set aside the transfer of the property at Abington into her name, orders are expected to be sought overturning that transfer, placing the property back into the joint names of the couple. The trustee could then move to sell Mr Drumm’s interest in the property for the benefit of his creditors.

Anglo had sued both Mr Drumm and his wife over the Abington transfer. The bank claimed that transaction was a fraud on creditors while the Drumms’ insisted it was for taxation reasons.