SEÁN QUINN, at one time thought to be Ireland’s richest businessman with personal wealth of more than €4 billion, yesterday told a Belfast court that he had assets of less than £50,000.
Mr Quinn made a successful bankruptcy application to the Belfast High Court and his worldwide assets are now under the control of the Official Receiver in Northern Ireland.
His solicitor, John Gordon, told The Irish Times the statement of affairs filed with the court said Mr Quinn had assets of less than £50,000 and no income, did not own property, and had a pension that would pay him less than £10,000 a year once it was drawn down.
Mr Gordon said his client did not own the house he lived in, which, Mr Gordon said, had been built and paid for by his children and belonged to them. Mr Quinn’s wife, Patricia, also had no assets.
The bankruptcy coincided yesterday with the transfer of the ownership of his insurance business, Quinn Insurance – once the most profitable part of his Quinn Group of companies – to a joint venture of US insurer Liberty Mutual and Irish Bank Resolution Corporation (IBRC) after protracted takeover negotiations.
IBRC, formerly Anglo Irish Bank, may seek to overturn Mr Quinn’s declaration of bankruptcy as part of its challenge to seek judgment for more than €2 billion against him in the High Court in Dublin.
The bank’s application to list its case in the Commercial Court for judgment against Mr Quinn will proceed on Monday.
IBRC said in a statement it was “examining the validity of this application for bankruptcy” in light of the fact that Mr Quinn’s main residence is in Co Cavan and because he has “extensive business interests and liabilities within the State”.
The bank will seek to examine the legal papers filed by Mr Quinn in court in Belfast and assess his declaration outlining his assets and liabilities before considering whether to seek to overturn his filing for bankruptcy.
Sources close to the IBRC did not dispute the suggestion that it might have been seeking to have Mr Quinn declared a bankrupt in this jurisdiction.
The law in the Republic does not allow a bankrupt to come out of bankruptcy for 12 years, while in Northern Ireland it can take as little as one year. Also, in Northern Ireland a bankrupt’s pension is protected.
After Mr Quinn made his surprise application, he said in a statement he made the move “with great sadness and regret”. “I was born, reared and worked all my life in Co Fermanagh. It is for this reason that my bankruptcy application was made today in Northern Ireland. I have done absolutely everything in my power to avoid taking this drastic decision.”
Mr Quinn and his family owe the State, by way of Anglo loans, up to €2.9 billion, according to the IBRC. Mr Quinn yesterday told the court that something more than €2 billion of this was in dispute and was the subject of proceedings in Dublin.
Mr Gordon said that, given the assets declared by Mr Quinn to the Belfast court, there was little the company and the Irish State could retrieve from Mr Quinn.
IBRC is involved in a series of court cases in this and other jurisdictions with Mr Quinn’s children in relation to very valuable properties, most of them abroad.
