McNulty liable for €90m to Nama

Businessman Kevin McNulty is liable to the National Assets Management Agency for some €90 million over unpaid loans made by the former Anglo Irish Bank to him and two building companies, plus his guarantees of some of those loans, the Commercial Court has ruled.

Mr Justice Brian McGovern also ruled Conal P Byrne, a retired garda, is liable to Nama for some €4.25 million arising from his guarantee of loans made to one of the defendant companies, Ashburton Construction Ltd.

Ashburton and the other defendant company, PA Bello Ltd, are liable to Nama over loans of some €3.84 million and €3.73 million respectively, he found.

Mr McNulty, Red Bog, Blessington, Co Wicklow, and Mr Byrne, Castlepark, Mill Hill Road, Leixlip, Co Kildare, had advanced what the judge described as mostly “technical” defences to Nama’s claim for judgment.

Both men agreed they signed the guarantees without reading the relevant documents. Among various defences, they alleged the guarantees, dated 1998, should have been called in by 2008 at the latest.

Anglo had loaned money in 2009 while insolvent, they further argued. IBRC, formerly Anglo, had provided a sworn statement to Mr McNulty saying it was solvent in 2009, the court heard.

In his reserved judgment, Mr Justice McGovern found Mr McNulty was a very experienced businessman but Mr Byrne was not as experienced and appeared to have “relied heavily” on Mr McNulty in hoping to make a profit out of their joint venture through Ashburton.

However, Mr Byrne was not an “innocent abroad” and had carried out other transactions involving land.