Bank moves to declare Quinn bankrupt
The former Anglo Irish Bank secured the order in the High Court in Dublin yesterday — hours after the High Court in Belfast ruled the former billionaire was not entitled to file for bankruptcy in the North.
Aillil O’Reilly, counsel for the bank, told Mr Justice John Edwards his client wanted the bankruptcy proceedings against Mr Quinn heard “as soon as possible”.
He said the bank had concerns that Mr Quinn might attempt to remove “unencumbered assets” and put them beyond the reach of the bank before the hearing takes place.
Mr O’Reilly said there could be a “dramatic dissipation” of Mr Quinn’s assets — including cash and plots of land — “that were otherwise thought to have been unimpeachable” to other parties.
He also said there were allegations in other proceedings that this had been done with corporate assets in other jurisdictions.
Earlier yesterday, the High Court in Belfast ruled Mr Quinn, once Ireland’s richest man, was not entitled to file for bankruptcy in the North.
He sought bankruptcy in the North, where he could have started a fresh career after 12 months, but will now face a wait of up to 12 years if declared bankrupt in the Republic.
The ruling followed a legal challenge by the bank, which claims it is owed €3 billion. The lender argued the 65-year-old’s “centre of main interest” was south of the border.
Mr Justice Donal Deeny, sitting in the High Court in Belfast, ruled in favour of the bank.
Speaking outside the court, Mr Quinn claimed he was being scapegoated by the bank.
He also said it was irrelevant whether he was declared bankrupt in the North or the south.
“The decision today is a no-brainer — there’s nothing to it,” he said.
“Whether I am bankrupt in Northern Ireland or southern Ireland — it’s a joke. What these people want to do is deflect the main interest… This thing here is only a sham.”
Mr Quinn denied he had ever sought to mislead anyone and said he had always worked in the North and had never used his home, just south of the border, as an office.
“I never done a day’s work from southern Ireland in my life. I never done a day’s work in my home. I never had any computers, I never had any IT system. Everything was always done from Derrylin. There was never any question of me deceiving the court and there was never any need for me to deceive the court.”
Since Mr Quinn asked to be declared bankrupt in Belfast in November, he has been hit with two separate judgments of €1.74bn and €416 million by the Commercial Court in Dublin over loans from Anglo.
Mr Quinn told the bankruptcy hearing in Belfast in November he had assets of less than £50,000 (€60,000).
Asked if he now expected to be made bankrupt in the Republic, Mr Quinn said he did not know.
“The bankruptcy is just a deflection of what’s going on here,” he said.
