Drumm ‘wrongly portrayed as serial liar’

A bankruptcy court in Boston heard yesterday that David Drumm was the victim of a "witch hunt" and was being wrongly portrayed as "a serial liar".

The case against the former Anglo Irish Bank chief executive’s attempts to be granted a fresh financial start in the US was, according to his attorney David Mack, “long on rhetoric and short on substance”, with plaintiffs trying to convince the judge that Mr Drumm was “controlling information... with his evil black hat on”.

Lawyers representing the disgraced former banker and Irish Bank Resolution Corporation were giving their closing arguments to Judge Frank Bailey at the US Bankruptcy Court in downtown Boston yesterday morning.

It was the sixth day of Mr Drumm’s trial in which he is attempting to have himself discharged from bankruptcy in order to acquire a fresh financial start, a move which is being challenged by IBRC — formerly Anglo — and the trustee for his other creditors, Kathleen Dwyer.

John Hutchinson, arguing for the plaintiffs, asked the judge to deny the discharge due to the alleged “numerous and repeated acts of concealment”, the lawyer spending almost 50 minutes going through the evidence which they claim “shows intent to defraud” the bankruptcy process as well as creditors.

Mr Drumm could end up being forced to hand over a share of his income for the rest of his career in order to repay the approximately €10.5m owed to those creditors, €8.5m of which is owed to IBRC.

A fortnight ago, during a two-day stint in the witness stand, Mr Drumm denied making a “conscious decision to exclude transfers to his wife” in schedules. Lorraine Drumm was in attendance yesterday along with the couple’s eldest daughter.

The prosecution alleges that the financial statements Mr Drumm filed on October 29, 2010, as he was declaring bankruptcy in the US included both material misstatements and material omissions.

IBRC lawyer John Hutchinson reiterated that charge yesterday during his closing statement.

Mr Hutchinson also said that Mr Drumm’s “advisers were catching his mis-statements — they just couldn’t keep up with all of them” and that the “facts illustrate an utter disdain for the bankruptcy process”.

Mr Mack’s rebuttal shifted the blame principally to those acting on behalf of Mr Drumm, acknowledging that it was a “big blunder” to exclude cash transfers from a statement of financial affairs in late 2010.

There was “no evidence he was trying to hide anything”, claimed the lawyer, adding that his client “understood that if and when he filed for bankruptcy, the trustee would be looking hard at transfers”.

Pointing out that Anglo Irish Bank was as an “extraordinarily aggressive creditor”, he said that his client was all the more aware that he had to disclose everything.

“He understands now that he made a mistake... Plaintiffs would have court believe that advisers decided to let Drumm perjure himself... why would he do that?

“Plaintiffs would have court believe [that it was] just Mr Drumm controlling information... with his evil black hat on.”

A verdict is expected later in the summer, with post-trial submission deadlines set for July 15.