David Drumm consents to €7.5m judgment on unpaid loans

Former Anglo Irish Bank chief executive David Drumm has consented to judgment for some €7.5 million over unpaid loans in favour of Irish Bank Resolution Corporation (IBRC) at the Commercial Court. A stay applies on registration and execution of the judgment.

Proceedings were initiated by Anglo Irish Bank in 2009 against Mr Drumm seeking judgment for some €8 million. He counterclaimed for some €2.6 million in salary, pension and deferred bonus payments and damages, including for “mental distress”. Anglo Irish Bank was later liquidated by the State and became part of IBRC.

Hearing

The action was fixed for hearing at the Commercial Court in October 2010 but it could not proceed because, just weeks earlier, Mr Drumm filed for bankruptcy in the United States.

Because of a worldwide stay on legal proceedings against Mr Drumm as a result of that filing for bankruptcy, the Anglo case was taken out of the fast track Commercial Court list and adjourned generally to the ordinary High Court list.

During a video conference hearing at the Commercial Court on Friday, Mr Justice David Barniville was told by Karyn Harty, solicitor for IBRC, applied for judgment to be entered in the sum of €7,520,140 on consent against Mr Drumm.

Ms Harty said the case had been adjourned generally until the US bankruptcy proceedings concluded. Those proceedings had concluded in August 2018 when the US bankruptcy trustee’s final report was approved.

IBRC had applied to bar Mr Drumm’s discharge from bankruptcy and was successful in that regard, she said.

Ms Harty said the orders she was seeking now were to deal with Mr Drumm's remaining debt. Michael Staines, solicitor for Mr Drumm, said his client was consenting to the orders.

Title

Mr Justice Barniville agreed to enter judgment in the sum sought, with a stay on registration and execution.

He also agreed to amend the title of the case from Anglo Irish Bank v David Drumm to IBRC, in special liquidation, v David Drumm. He made further orders on consent striking out the proceedings and the counterclaim, vacating all other orders previously made, and granting liberty to apply.

Mr Drumm was convicted in 2018 of conspiracy for his role in a €7.2 billion fraud perpetrated at the peak of the banking crisis in 2008.

He was sentenced to serve six years in prison.