The former billionaire Sean Quinn did not give full disclosure to the courts when he successfully applied for bankruptcy status in Northern Ireland last month, it was claimed in the High Court in Belfast today.
The Irish Bank Resolution Corporation, formerly Anglo Irish Bank, is seeking to have Mr Quinn's bankruptcy status annulled on this ground and on the basis that Mr Quinn's habitual place of residence was in the Irish Republic and not in Northern Ireland.
Mr Quinn was present in court and his counsel, Mark Orr QC, said the businessman would give evidence about an office he set up in Fermanagh in recent times. The court heard that Mr Quinn had said in his affidavit that he purposely kept the fact that he was now operating from the Co Fermanagh office from IBRC.
However Gabriel Moss QC said the European directive which applied in insolvency cases stipulated that a person's centre of main interest has to be ascertainable to third parties, such as creditors. Mr Quinn, he said, had told the courts last month that his only creditor was IBRC.
He said Mr Quinn was perfectly entitled to keep the location of his office hidden for privacy reasons but he could not then turn around and state the office was his centre of main interest.
When Mr Justice Donal Deeny put it to Mr Moss that he was suggesting that the fact that Mr Quinn had a "discreet" office might create a difficulty for him in his case to do with his centre of main interest, Mr Moss said he preferred to use the term "alleged office".
Mr Justice Deeny asked if the court would hear evidence as to whether Mr Qunn's Fermanagh office was in the phone book or some trade directory or on the internet, Mr Orr said he intended hearing evidence from Mr Quinn in that regard.
Mr Quinn is the subject of judgment orders granted by the Dublin courts to IBRC, for in excess of euro 2 billion, which were granted subsequent to his successful application for bankruptcy status in Belfast.
In his application to the Belfast courts Mr Quinn said he had assets worth less than #50,000 and a pension that would entitle him to #10,000 per year.