The High Court in London will deliver its verdict tomorrow on an application by property investors, Brian and Patricia O’Donnell that it should overturn its own ruling last month that the couple should not be permitted to become bankrupt in Britain.
Presenting his own case, Mr O’Donnell frequently criticised the firm of solicitors and barrister they used during the original hearing, claiming that they had not made them aware of the need to produce crucial paperwork.
The couple, he said, had told Anglo Irish Bank Corporation, HSBC, the Ulster Bank, along with credit card company, MBNA of their London address in Barton Street, Westminster a fortnight before they lodged their application for bankruptcy in London last March.
Appearing before Mr Justice Newey, Mr O’Donnell made an application under Section 375 of the Insolvency Act asking that the judge rescind his own ruling because of the ‘exceptional circumstances’ of the case.
Last month, Mr Justice Newey rejected the couple’s bankruptcy application, saying that he had not found Mr O’Donnell to be ‘wholly frank, or truthful’ during a marathon six-day hearing into the case before Christmas.
The Bank of Ireland, Mr O’Donnell claimed today, had pursued both he and his wife in courts in Ireland, the UK and Luxembourg while others who owed similar amounts to the bank are being allowed to go bankrupt in Britain without any challenge by it.
