Dunne’s wife aims to halt case over assets

The wife of bankrupt developer Sean Dunne wants to halt “oppressive” Commercial Court proceedings brought against her over alleged invalid transfers of various of her husband’s assets to her, including a hotel in South Africa valued at more than €18m.

Chris Lehane, the official administering Mr Dunne’s Irish bankruptcy, previously said he remains unclear of the value of certain alleged transactions between Mr Dunne and Gayle Killilea Dunne but it appeared these involved “tens of millions of euro in total”.

Ms Killilea, with an address at Greenwich, Connecticut, is seeking to halt the proceedings brought against her here by Mr Lehane , arguing she does not have “limitless” assets.

She claims being subject to proceedings here and the US creates “real potential” that any assets at the centre of recovery efforts risked being depleted which is not in the interests of her husband’s creditors, she claims.

Mr Lehane and the bankruptcy trustee dealing with Mr Dunne’s bankruptcy in the US are trying to divide proceedings in two jurisdictons, based on location of assets owned by herself rather than location of the alleged transfers from her husband to herself, she says.

This meant if money or property was transferred to her in Ireland in 2007 and later used to buy property in the US afer she moved there in 2010, the same money or property will be part of the Irish and US proceedings, she argues.

The “artificial separation” of the Irish and US proceedings is “wholly unreasonable and oppressive to me”, she claims. She also claims the irish proceedings violate the terms of a stay granted by the US courts.

At the Commercial Court yesterday, her counsel, Alan Doherty, said the sides had agreed to adjourn the application to halt the case to allow a further affidavit be filed. Mr Justice Brian McGovern adjourned it for futher mention later this month.

Mr Lehane’s proceedings relate to two alleged agreements between Mr Dunne and his wife. The first, dated March 2005, provided Gayle Killilea was to get, for the benefit of herself and the couple’s children, 70% of the profits accruing from the sale of various properties, including the Lagoon Beach Hotel, Cape Town, South Africa. The agreement stated the hotel was owned by Mountbrook Homes Ltd, now Mavior, and that Mr Dunne was also transferring to his wife a €4m debt owed to him by Mountbrook.

The agreement also related to properties at Woodtown, Rathfarnham; IGB Clonskeagh; residential lands at Charlesland, Co Wicklow; lands at Malahide, Co Dublin; and Rivertree (Numbers 1 and 3 Shrewsbury Rd, Dublin).

Mr Lehane claims that the alleged agreement has no legal status.

The defence pleads Ms Dunne entered the agreements for good faith reasons including prioritising family life and Mr Dunne’s career over her own as a journalist and prospective career as a lawyer.