David Drumm’s pal Michael Breslin guaranteed a few headaches

It was interesting to see the name of Michael Breslin popping up in the courts this week, as the National Asset Management Agency pursued him over a £9 million guarantee he gave in relation to the former Anglo Irish Bank loans of Car Park Solutions, a Cavan company that owes £22 million.

It wasn’t mentioned in the court, but US-based Breslin is, of course, well-known to the former Anglo chief executive David Drumm, who is now holed up in the US doing some work for his buddy, far far from the grisly aftermath of his Anglo handywork in Dublin.

Breslin, originally from Kells in Meath, moved to the US a couple of decades ago and set up a successful scaffolding business with his brother, John. It merged with another company a few years back to form Safway Atlantic, where Breslin sits on the board.

Drumm was last year reported to be working from Safway’s New Jersey offices, and was photographed walking in the door by an intrepid hack. Apparently, he is not an employee of Breslin’s company, but he has reportedly been doing some consulting work for his old acquaintance.

Drumm, who this week gave a written statement to the banking inquiry, was the subject of extradition proceedings initiated by the State in January, as he doesn’t seem too keen to come home for a chat.

Legal battle

Breslin, too, has proven somewhat difficult to get a hold of, according to Nama’s lawyers. The court was told that that the case against Breslin was delayed partially because the address he gave for his bank guarantee was not the address at which he lives. It took some time to find him, the court was told.

As if a transatlantic legal battle with Nama was not enough of a headache, a quick perusal of US court records shows that Safway Atlantic has been hit with a lawsuit by an iron workers’ union for allegedly failing to make contributions to a union fund.

That writ was issued on December 24th. Merry Christmas from the boys...