SEÁN QUINN, once said to be worth more than €4 billion and to be Ireland’s richest man, is now a man “of virtually no means”, according to the solicitor who represented him in his successful bankruptcy application in Belfast yesterday.
Mr Quinn has no income and his assets are worth approximately £50,000, according to insolvency practitioner and solicitor John Gordon of Napier and Sons solicitors, Belfast.
The Quinn Group stopped paying Mr Quinn (65) a salary in July and he has yet to begin drawing down his pension, Mr Gordon said. Mr Quinn’s pension would provide him with a pension of less than £10,000 annually, Mr Gordon said.
“He has no property whatsoever, including his home... He is a man of virtually no means.”
Mr Quinn successfully applied to be declared a bankrupt in Belfast yesterday and submitted a statement of affairs.
He accepted he owed the Irish Bank Resolution Corporation (formerly Anglo) approximately £400 million and that a further €2 billion approximately was the subject of a dispute before the High Court in Dublin.
While residency in Northern Ireland is one qualification for seeking to be made a bankrupt there, Mr Gordon said there are alternative ways that include having your centre of main interest there. A European regulation provided for this.
Mr Quinn was born and reared in Co Fermanagh but now lives in Co Cavan. However, Mr Gordon said, he ran his Quinn Group from offices in Co Fermanagh, paid tax in the UK and had a UK national insurance number.
He said the Irish Bank Resolution Corporation (IBRC) did not have locus standito contest Mr Quinn's right to take bankruptcy proceedings in Northern Ireland. It was a matter for the official receiver of Northern Ireland, who is now trustee for Mr Quinn's assets.
It is understood the IBRC learned about yesterday’s move by Mr Quinn after the event. Mr Gordon said Mr Quinn had no other substantial creditor other than the IBRC.
Under Northern Ireland law, a person can emerge from bankruptcy after one year while in the Republic it takes 12 years.
Also, in Northern Ireland a bankrupt can hold on to his or her pension.
Mr Gordon said the IBRC was to seek a summary judgment against Mr Quinn in the Dublin courts on Monday morning, in relation to a personal guarantee he gave for a loan of €3 million issued some years ago to Quinn Finance.
He said Mr Quinn suspected this was a prelude to the IBRC having him declared a bankrupt in the Republic. “He decided to take the initiative.”
Mr Gordon said Mr Quinn’s family home belonged to his children. It was built approximately six years ago and was paid for by Mr Quinn’s children. The nature of the transaction was declared in the children’s returns to the Revenue Commissioners in Dublin some years ago, Mr Gordon said.
He said Mr Quinn’s wife, Patricia Quinn, did not have an interest in the house. “She has no assets either.”
Mr Gordon said the Quinn Group was producing profits of up to half a billion euro a year up to some years ago but had since then come under the control of one of the worst performing companies in Irish history, Anglo Irish Bank.
