Ray Grehan, one of the highest-profile developers in the boom, has agreed to a bankruptcy restriction order in the UK for seven years after failing to fully disclose his assets.
The order means that Mr Grehan faces the same restrictions as in bankruptcy until October 9th, 2021. During that time he must disclose his status as a person subject to bankruptcy restrictions when borrowing more than £500 in the UK and must not act as a director of a company in Britain without having court permission among other matters.
Mr Grehan, who gives his address as Abuja, Nigeria, went bankrupt in the UK on December 30th, 2011, with a total deficiency of £417 million (€523 million).
He is understood to have considered challenging his restriction order but decided against doing because of the legal cost of taking such an action.
Failed to disclose assets
Instead, Mr Grehan, in a filing in the
High Court
of Justice in London on October 9th, stated: “I failed to disclose all assets and transfers of assets to connected parties in a statement of affairs filed in the High Court on 30 December 2011.
“The trustee has, as a result of his own investigations, identified assets and disposals not disclosed in the statement of affairs. My failure to disclose these assets and disposals has significantly reduced the assets in my bankruptcy and resulted in a substantial increase in the cost of the bankruptcy.”
Mr Grehan said he had failed to disclose four bank accounts he had held in the two years prior to his bankruptcy and the transfer of an apartment in Co Leitrim to his daughter on October 18th, 2011.
He also said he had not disclosed the payment of €137,000 to his wife from the sale of business unit in Maynooth on November 6th, 2011, or the transfer of a 2007 Range Rover valued at between €12,000 and €15,000 to a former employee in November 2011.
Mr Grehan said that between May 6th, 2011, and November 2011 he was “aware” he was “insolvent” and he had been served notice that personal guarantees on his bank borrowings had been called in.
Ritz Carlton suite
“I transferred assets to connected parties for no consideration, to the detriment of my creditors,” he said. Mr Grehan said these assets included the matters he had already highlighted as well as transferring an interest on November 17th, 2011, in a suite in the Ritz Carlton in Toronto bought for 442,000 Canadian dollars (€313,000) to an Ontario company registered for that purpose for “no consideration”.
He also said: "On 6 May 2011, I transferred €200,000 from my account . . . at Permanent TSB to my wife."
Mr Grehan has tried to rebuild his career as a developer in Nigeria. In his filing he said he had “failed” to give “adequate records” for this business from October 2010 until December 2011, “as a result of which” he said “the official receiver is unable to verify my explanation for the use of cash withdrawals and bank transfers totalling at least €565,900 and $79,000”.
Minister for Finance Michael Noonan noted in the Dáil in July 2013 that going bankrupt in the UK was for a "shorter period ... [but] any failure to make full disclosure may result in the period of bankruptcy being extended".
