Ruling against Ken Drumm on lease deal

A High Court judge, while criticising the “extremely careless” preparation by a bank of paperwork for a vehicle lease agreement…

A High Court judge, while criticising the “extremely careless” preparation by a bank of paperwork for a vehicle lease agreement, has ruled it is entitled to judgment for some €58,000 against businessman Ken Drumm under that agreement.

Mr Drumm, a brother of former Anglo Irish Bank chief executive David Drumm, had disputed he was personally liable under the lease agreement with Lombard Ireland Ltd and argued the lease was made with a company, Shrewsbury Developments (SDL), with which he was involved.

Ms Justice Elizabeth Dunne rejected his arguments in her judgment yesterday.

While there was no doubt the bank was “extremely careless” preparing its paperwork, the documents did reflect that a proposal by SDL to take over the lease was rejected by the bank, she said.

READ MORE

Having considered the evidence of Mr Drumm and the bank, the judge found a bank official had told Mr Drumm the proposal from Shrewsbury was rejected.

The judge said she was also satisfied there was a proposal from Mr Drumm personally which was accepted by the bank and the lease agreement was with Mr Drumm by September 2008 at the latest.