Businessman and former billionaire Seán Quinn was declared bankrupt in the High Court in Northern Ireland today.
The 64-year-old was granted a voluntary adjudication over an alleged €2.8 billion debt owed to Anglo Irish Bank, which has been renamed as the Irish Bank Resolution Corporation (IBRC), incorporating Irish Nationwide Building Society.
He said in a statement that he had “done absolutely everything in my power to avoid taking this drastic decision” and alleged that the bank and the Government were “intent on making scapegoats of my family and I”.
Mr Quinn accepts he owes around €194 million to IBRC for property loans, which he cannot repay. But the rest of the alleged €2.8 billion debt, which relates to Contracts for Difference (CFDs) used to buy Anglo Irish bank shares, is disputed.
In a statement, IBRC said it was “examining the validity of this application for bankruptcy” in the light of Mr Quinn's residency in Co Cavan and “extensive business interests and liabilities within the State”.
“The mandate of IBRC is to recover as much of the debts as possible on behalf of the Irish taxpayer and IBRC will continue to pursue maximum recovery of his debt.”
Mr Quinn said he brought the application in Northern Ireland because he was born, reared and worked all his life in Co Fermanagh. The bankruptcy order is believed to be one of the biggest of its kind ever made in Britain, Ireland or Northern Ireland.
By declaring himself bankrupt in the North it means Mr Quinn only has to wait a year before going back into business - rather than 12 years in the Republic. He claimed to have been left with no alternative but to take the “drastic decision” over problems which stemmed from “ill-fated investments in Anglo”.
Mr Quinn was stripped of control of his manufacturing and insurance business empire in April. As a consequence receivers were installed and he and his family lost management control of the Quinn Group.
The Quinn family are currently suing Anglo, claiming the CFDs were tainted with illegality.
Mr Quinn applied for voluntary bankruptcy through his lawyer and licensed insolvency practitioner, John Gordon of Napier and Sons. The order was granted during a brief hearing before a Master at the High Court in Belfast.
In a statement released after the application Mr Quinn said: “The vast majority of debt that Anglo maintains is owed is strenuously disputed. I cannot, however, now pay those loans which are due.”
“Following Anglo taking control of the Quinn Group of companies, which I and a loyal team spent a lifetime building, I find myself left with no alternative,” he said.
He claimed the bank has attempted to avoid acknowledging “a lack of corporate responsibility, self-interest and lack of regulation that prevailed at the time”. The allegations are now the subject of High Court proceedings.
Mr Quinn accepted: “I am certainly not without blame. I am not in the business of pointing fingers or making excuses.
“However, recent history has shown that I, like thousands of others in Ireland, incorrectly relied upon the persons who guided Anglo and who wrongfully sought to portray a ‘blue chip’ Irish banking stock.”
He said that he and his team had developed one of the most successful businesses in Irish history, with the group generating more than 5,000 jobs and contributing in excess of €1 billion in tax revenues.
Mr Quinn rejected any suggestion that he had brought down the empire, adding that prior to Anglo’s takeover it was a profitable business paying all interest on 100 per cent of its debts as well as having enough surpluses to develop further.
He also claimed: “Anglo has supported and promoted an ill-conceived and highly damaging receivership programme which I believe, if it continues on its current road, is destined for certain and catastrophic failure.”
The statement continued: “My family and I have been subjected to relentless negative media coverage over the past three years...I have been portrayed as a reckless gambler who bet on a bank…I have never sought publicity, nor have I courted the media. On the contrary I have developed a reputation for avoiding the media glare.
“Sadly this now seems to have worked very much to my disadvantage, especially when compared with the sophisticated and massively expensive publicity campaign operated for and on behalf of Anglo.”