Denis O’Brien sought more time from IBRC to repay his debts
BUSINESSMAN Denis O’Brien asked for more time to repay his debts to State-owned IBRC, arguing he had a verbal agreement with the bank’s former CEO Mike Aynsley.
The majority of an RTÉ report on Mr O’Brien and his arrangements with IBRC, which was the subject of a High Court injunction, can now be published.
Following a High Court ruling yesterday, two paragraphs of the original story cannot be reported as they are still covered by the injunction granted to IBRC against RTÉ in May.
The report says that a month after the former Anglo Irish Bank was put into liquidation, Mr O’Brien’s investment advisor David Sykes told the liquidator “Denis has received verbal confirmation” of an extension for his €320m loans from Mr Aynsley and another senior executive Richard Woodhouse.
Mr O’Brien had already repaid €525m of his borrowings and sought to renegotiate the repayment period for the remaining €320m.
The RTÉ report says the bank’s previous management accepted that it did have discussions with Mr O’Brien about extending the repayment period. But it did not interpret those discussions as being an agreement.
The negotiations were under way when the bank was suddenly liquidated and Mr Woodhouse and Mr Aynsley had their contracts terminated.
Previous IBRC management was seeking to protect the bank’s position.
Mr O’Brien wrote a letter in October 2013 to liquidator Kieran Wallace stating he had “proactively” dealt with his debts in the past.
“As discussed, my intention has been to repay the balance of my facilities over the next three years and I had an agreement with the previous management of IBRC to this effect,” the letter added.
Mr O’Brien asked for a further year to repay his loans although the facilities had already expired.
The move followed protracted correspondence between the bank and the businessman.
Bank documents indicate that, in the same month, if the financial institution failed to give Mr O’Brien flexibility he may take legal action on foot of the alleged verbal agreement with previous management.
Mr O’Brien “had advised that it is his view and the view of his lawyers that his discussion with Richard Woodhouse prior to liquidation were binding”, a bank briefing note says.
Another internal note says it appears clear from Mr O’Brien’s advisors that he was not prepared to agree to have his loan sold by the liquidators of IBRC.
The RTÉ report says that, under Mike Aynsley, IBRC introduced tighter procedures for approving loans.
Among them were requirements that any extension in a repayment schedule would have to be approved by the bank’s credit committee which would require an extensive process.
However, Mr O’Brien’s request for more time prior to liquidation was under discussion and had not been escalated to the credit committee.
The documentation seen by RTÉ shows the bank believed its situation had been weakened by Mr O’Brien’s assertion that he had a verbal agreement to pay his loans over a longer period.
But the files do not show how the issues regarding Mr O’Brien’s loans were ultimately resolved.
The issues raised in the documents regarding Mr O’Brien’s loans follow significant concerns highlighted by the Department of Finance about the governance of large transactions and client relationships by the previous management of IBRC.
The High Court ruled that elements of the report, which refer to legal advice received by the bank, still cannot be broadcast.
The High Court had already refused an RTÉ application to lift the injunction in its entirety.
However, Mr Justice Donald Binchy agreed his order could be varied to reflect certain comments which were made in the Dáil.
Mr O’Brien’s legal representatives said they no longer opposed the publication of the script of the proposed RTÉ report.
But IBRC maintained its objections to parts of the script.