An offshore company being sued over multimillion-pound loan assignments on property linked to bankrupt ex-billionaire Seán Quinn failed yesterday in a bid to have the judge hearing the case stand aside.

The application by Lyndhurst Development Trading for Mr Justice McCloskey at the High Court in Belfast to recuse himself was stayed on the third day of contempt-of-court proceedings against two of its legal representatives. The judge also refused to adjourn Irish Bank Resolution Corp’s attempt to have the transfer set aside, pointing to Lyndhurst’s “successive and serial failures” to comply with his directions.

IBRC, the former Anglo Irish Bank, is locked in a legal battle for control of Mr Quinn’s international empire as part of its attempt to recoup more than £2 billion.

As part of that wider action, Lyndhurst, registered in the British Virgin Islands, was prohibited from enforcing any loan agreement or dealing with debts surrounding a mall in Kiev, Ukraine, under the terms of an emergency injunction granted in Belfast on December 23rd. However it is alleged that later the same day the order was ignored at a hearing in Kiev.