Senior EBS figure ordered to repay €2.3m loan

THE HEAD of development finance with Educational Building Society (EBS) has been ordered to repay a €2.3 million property loan after a High Court judge rejected as “incredible” her claim she signed up for the loan without clearly understanding its terms.

“If the head of development finance with EBS could not understand such a simple loan, then nobody could,” Mr Justice Peter Kelly remarked when granting the €2.3 million summary judgment order against Martha Widger in favour of Friends First Finance Ltd.

Ms Widger had argued the case should go to a full hearing as she had a defence to summary judgment on grounds she had no comprehensive understanding of the 2008 loan and was induced to enter into it following representations to her by Evan Duggan, with whom she was in a personal relationship and who provided a personal guarantee over the loan.

Hugh O’Keeffe SC, for Friends First, argued no defence was made out on that basis. There was no allegation Ms Widger was induced to enter into a loan to buy a property for less than the then market price and no claim of misrepresentation was being made against the bank, he said.

In his decision, Mr Justice Kelly said the money was loaned in 2008, Ms Widger was the sole borrower, she had signed and executed the loan agreement, and the terms of the loan were clear. Everything she did was also done on foot of legal and accountancy advice.

The loan was secured by a first legal charge over the property at Heytesbury Lane, Dublin, and a personal guarantee of Mr Duggan. Certificates, signed by Mr Duggan, were also provided from Duggan Co planning associates.

Ms Widger’s claim she was persuaded to enter into the loan without fully understanding it was difficult to understand, the judge said. Mr Duggan initially approached Friends First for the loan and secured approval for it, after which there was a further approach to the bank by Mr Duggan and Ms Widger, when the bank was told she would take out the loan because she would get first-time buyers’ tax relief.

Ms Widger was head of development finance at EBS when this loan was negotiated with a salary of about €200,000, the judge noted. It was hard to say she had no comprehensive understanding of the loan, which was granted under “a standard-type loan document”. She was also described as a person of substantial net worth estimated at about €6.3 million.