BUSINESSMEN PADDY Kelly and Paul Pardy each consented to individual judgments of €8.5 million in favour of National Irish Bank on the back of personal guarantees given on an overdraft for their development company, RQB.

Mr Kelly’s legal representative told the court that he was also consenting to an additional judgment of £1.043 million (€1.22 million) in favour of the bank.

This brings to €93.7 million the total judgments secured against Mr Kelly through the courts.

RQB and a director of the company, financier Niall McFadden, are challenging the bank’s action, the court was told by Rossa Fanning, and their case was referred to the Commercial Court, which expedites legal proceedings relating to large business disputes.

Mr Justice Iarfhlaith O’Neill adjourned the case against Mr McFadden and RQB for three weeks. Counsel for the bank said it was seeking to transfer the action to the Commercial Court due to the “size of the money involved and the urgency of the matter”.

NIB secured summary judgment against Mr Kelly and Mr Pardy for €8,577,105 each over an overdraft of December 2005 made available to RQB for the purpose of acquiring properties “pending injection of investor equity”.

The bank has claimed that the three individual directors executed a guarantee on December 23rd, 2005 indemnifying the bank in relation to the overdraft facility.

NIB secured the judgment of £1,043,629 against Mr Kelly over a loan given towards his investment in a company called Club Company Acquisition Holdings, which was behind a chain of 10 country clubs in the UK – an investment made by RQB, formerly known as Redquartz Boundary.

RQB, a property development company, was set up in 2005 by Mr Kelly, Mr Pardy, formerly of Anglo Irish Bank and Mr McFadden.

The firm has invested in a number of projects, including the Sawgrass Marriott golf resort in Florida.