ANALYSIS:It is only now that Seán Quinn is taking a personal hit on his losses in the form of court judgments, writes SIMON CARSWELL
THE LAST question on the Northern Irish bankruptcy declaration form reads: “Have you lost any money through betting or gambling during the last two years?”
Seán Quinn – or John Ignatius Quinn as he filed for bankruptcy in Belfast on November 11th – ticked the “No” box when he completed his form two days earlier. He’s not wrong; Quinn lost €3 billion on his gamble on Anglo Irish Bank in the crash of 2008, which is now three years ago.
It is only now, however, that Quinn is taking a direct personal hit on those heavy losses in the form of court judgments.
Mr Justice Peter Kelly ordered Quinn to pay the largest personal judgment ever handed down by the Commercial Court – two sums totalling €417 million made up of a $219 million (€163 million) debt and a €253 million debt.
The judgment may be academic as far as Quinn is concerned – he told the Northern Irish courts that he had only €11,000 in three accounts at Bank of Ireland and Ulster Bank branches in Fermanagh and Cavan.
However, judgment for such large amounts strengthens the bank’s hand when it comes to recovering debts for the State.
The amounts are staggering – like telephone numbers, internationally dialled numbers if you take into account everything owing right down to the last cent.
Much more is likely to come.
Yesterday’s judgment related to undisputed debt. Irish Bank Resolution Corporation (formerly Anglo) will seek judgment for a further €1.745 billion next Monday.
The judge felt that giving judgment for €417 million would not prejudice the official bankruptcy receiver in charge of Quinn’s affairs in another jurisdiction, Northern Ireland, or disadvantage the bank in this jurisdiction.
IBRC will start its challenge in the High Court in Belfast today to overturn his bankruptcy declaration in Northern Ireland and question the assets and liabilities he disclosed in his bankruptcy filing.
The €2.161 billion that the bank is seeking judgment for against Quinn doesn’t cover all the family’s debts. The Quinns owe almost €2.9 billion and both sides are still battling it out in complex cases in various countries to gain control of an international property empire worth about €500 million.
A skirmish in Sweden was fought and won by the bank in July with a bankruptcy receiver appointed to the main foreign company behind properties in Russia, Ukraine, Turkey and India.
Judgment in an action in Cyprus over an injunction secured by the family against the bank was due this month but has been put back until next month.
This stops the bank interfering with properties in Russia owned by the family’s Cypriot companies, which are subsidiaries of Swedish firms.
Then there is the legal action against the family in Moscow, where IBRC is trying to secure control over various assets but primarily the Kutuzoff Tower office block in the Russian capital, which is worth about €180 million. A Moscow court adjourned the case yesterday until December 23rd.
On November 16th, another battle between the sides, this time in Ukraine over a shopping centre and an office block which generate €30 million in rent a year, was adjourned. A date for the next hearing is awaited.
But the main event will be the trial of the family’s action against IBRC in which Quinn’s wife and children are contesting the validity of €2.34 billion in loans, claiming they are “tainted with illegality”.
Their argument is that the Anglo loans were provided to prop up the bank’s share price and save the shattered lender during the growing banking crisis of 2008.
This case kicks off in February.
In the meantime, Quinn faces probing questions over declarations in that bankruptcy form.
