Bankruptcy is like a jail sentence for me, claims Seán Dunne
BANKRUPT developer Seán Dunne yesterday claimed being bankrupt for five years is ‘as close as it can get’ to being in jail.
The businessman’s barrister told the High Court the 63year-old has been unable to make a living or ‘provide for his family’ since being forced into bankruptcy in Ireland in July 2013 over a €164million debt to Ulster Bank.
The Carlow-born builder, who became successful during the Celtic Tiger years when he had ambitions to turn Ballsbridge into the ‘new Knightsbridge’, had never wanted to go bankrupt in Ireland. By March 2013, he had moved to the US and had filed for bankruptcy there. But on July 29, 2013, Mr Dunne was declared bankrupt in Dublin over the Ulster Bank debt for an initial period of three years – making him the first Irish person to be bankrupt on both sides of the Atlantic. Those loans were connected to his overall acquisition of two landmark Dublin 4 hotels – Jurys and the Berkeley Court – for €400million.
In July 2016, instead of freeing him from bankruptcy, the High Court provisionally extended his bankruptcy in light of allegations by the State’s chief bankruptcy Official Assignee Chris Lehane that Mr Dunne was not co-operating with State officials and may have been ‘hiding assets’.
For example, it was claimed he gave the address of an ‘unfurnished and unoccupied’ US mansion when asked by bankruptcy officials to identify himself, the Court of Appeal previously heard.
Since July 2016, due to the volume of cases coming before the High Court’s bankruptcy wing, the court hasn’t yet held a hearing to decide by how long to extend his bankruptcy – but the original provisional extension has remained in place.
In recent months, Mr Dunne has complained, through his lawyers, that he wanted to ‘get free of the shackles of bankruptcy’ as soon as possible. Last November, he won permission to crossexamine Mr Lehane in the High Court about why he has been in bankruptcy since 2013.
The court heard yesterday that a two-week hearing to determine the length of the extension – which is expected to include that cross-examination – is due to start in April.
Barra McGrory QC, who was the North’s Director of Public Prosecutions until December, told Judge Caroline Costello that if the case keeps getting delayed for any reason, this could be a ‘gross injustice’ to his client.
Mr McGrory told the court his client felt that ‘bankruptcy is like a prison sentence’, adding: ‘He is unable to make a living, unable to provide for his family.
‘It’s like someone being in custody for him [Mr Dunne]. It’s as close to that as it can get without someone being in custody.’ But Mark Sanfey SC, for Mr Lehane, told the court: ‘I don’t agree that it’s like a prison sentence.
‘It certainly has some disabilities [attached to being bankrupt]… it’s not a prison sentence or anything like it. Nor does it prevent a bankrupt from earning his livelihood.’
Judge Costello agreed that the delays to date are ‘at the bankrupt’s [Dunne’s] expense’. She added Mr Dunne ‘remains in bankruptcy undischarged until [the formal application to extend the bankruptcy] is heard and disposed of by the court’.
Last May, the High Court heard how State officials suspected Mr Dunne and his wife Gayle Killilea were ‘working in concert together’ at that time, despite her claims they were ‘legally separated’.
He wants to get free of shackles It doesn’t prevent a bankrupt earning
IT was utterly ridiculous of fallen developer Seán Dunne to liken bankruptcy to being in prison. Aside from anything else, his remarks serve as proof that he hasn’t actually served time behind bars. If he had, it is highly unlikely he would have made such a comparison.