Investor must repay €2.1bn to Anglo Irish

AN IRISH court has ordered the country’s former richest man to pay back €1.7 billion to a state-owned bank in the largest judgement ever issued against an individual in the country.

Sean Quinn, whose €4bn business empire collapsed after a disastrous investment in Anglo Irish Bank before its 2009 nationalisation, was last week ordered to pay the lender €417 million, taking his total liability to €2.1bn.

Mr Justice Peter Kelly yesterday said he was “quite satisfied” that Anglo – recently renamed the Irish Bank Resolution Corporation – was entitled to the summary judgment orders.

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Anglo Irish Bank was the poster child for the reckless lending at the heart of Ireland’s financial crisis, accounting for more than 40 per cent of the €70bn bill to save the banking sector.

Anglo, which says Mr Quinn owes it up to €2.9bn, is seeking to overturn his recent bankruptcy in a Northern Irish court.

Mr Quinn, 64, who declared to the Northern Irish authorities his assets were now only €11,169 and an aged Mercedes car, disputes the amount owed and claims it is nothing like as much.

In a statement he said: “Today’s action by Anglo Irish Bank in my view is totally pointless, self-serving and vindictive. In no way does it improve the bank’s prospects of recovering money for the taxpayer.”

Mr Quinn developed a rural quarrying operation into a fortune of €4bn before investing massively in the now failed Anglo Irish.

His Quinn Insurance business, put into administration last year, was recently bought by US general insurer Liberty Mutual.

Mr Quinn is still regarded as a local hero for creating thousands of jobs in his home county of Cavan, where locals have held rallies in recent months to show their support.