Quinlan did not pay loan interest, court told

FINANCIER DEREK Quinlan should have declared two years ago that he had failed to pay interest on loans due to Bank of Scotland Ireland (BoSI), which would have triggered the sale of his share of a London luxury hotel group, it was alleged yesterday.

The charge was made by Philip Marshall QC for Belfast-born property developer Paddy McKillen, who said the fact that the bank had not acted to enforce the security did not matter.

“Mr Quinlan never informed the company that the security over his shares had become enforceable, or that there was a clear risk that BoSI might take steps to enforce or make him bankrupt,” according to the written closing submission from Mr Marshall.

Mr McKillen alleges he was improperly denied the opportunity of buying a share of Mr Quinlan’s shares, which would have given him a controlling stake in Coroin, the holding company owning Claridge’s, the Connaught and the Berkeley hotels.

Mr McKillen alleges he has suffered unfair prejudice because he was not given the opportunity to buy the stake, while the decision of the National Asset Management to sell £600 million worth of Coroin debt secured on the hotels had unfairly benefited the billionaire Barclay brothers.

“It is not necessary for Mr McKillen to prove he could have purchased the shares that ought to have been offered to him pursuant to the pre-emption rights in order to establish that he has suffered unfair prejudice.

“It is sufficient that he has been denied his lawful rights as a minority shareholder and the opportunity to participate in a pre-emption process in order to succeed in his claims,” said Mr Marshall, in a 400-page closing submission.

The evidence given in the two-month trial, he claimed, “shows, overwhelmingly” that Mr McKillen would always have been able to purchase Mr Quinlan’s shares and those of Misland – a company owned by the Dublin-based Green family.

Mr Quinlan’s legal team argues that Mr McKillen’s arguments against Mr Quinlan are “a wholly unwarranted attack upon the integrity of an honest man”.

In arguments expected to be made later in the week, lawyers for the Barclay brothers will reject Mr McKillen’s allegations about deleting text messages. Lawyers for the billionaire brothers allege Mr McKillen had admitted he had deleted large numbers from his Irish mobile phone.