A Dublin landlord and accountant has had his bankruptcy extended by seven years over what a judge described as “egregious” failure to co-operate with the official administering it, including by not disclosing information about his income and assets.
The High Court’s Mr Justice Liam Kennedy said the evidence was there may be as many as 43 properties in which Fintan Egan has an interest, making his failure to co-operate “all the more egregious”.
Mr Egan, with an address at Kimmage Road West, Dublin 12, was adjudicated bankrupt on the petition of the Revenue Commissioners in November 2022.
He had reached a settlement in 2017 with Revenue for €740,475 in taxes, interest and penalties relating to an audit case into under-declaration of income tax and VAT.
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He was due to exit bankruptcy on November 7th 2023 but an interim extension was granted pending a full hearing and to allow a further opportunity to co-operate.
During a remote hearing of the High Court’s bankruptcy list this week, Úna Nesdale BL, for Official Assignee Ian Larkin, the trustee administering Mr Egan’s bankruptcy, asked the court to extend it by seven years from the original date of discharge over his non co-operation.
There was no appearance by Mr Egan and he was not represented.
Ms Nesdale said she was not expecting an appearance because there had been “very little” engagement by Mr Egan who was informed the previous Friday the remote hearing was scheduled.
Counsel said an affidavit from the Official Assignee outlined several requests were made to Mr Egan after his adjudication seeking a statements of affairs and personal information and income details.
Mr Egan had provided phone calls and emails in response to contest issues concerning his bank account and to say he was unwell but had not provided the assets and income information he was obliged to provide, she said.
A property search had returned 43 assets in Mr Egan’s name, counsel said. It seemed from his communications he was attempting to manage properties and had not accepted the bankruptcy adjudication meant those assets were vested in the Official Assignee for the benefit of his creditors.
In his ruling, Mr Justice Kennedy said a bankrupt is obliged to co-operate with the Official Assignee and to provide information on assets and income.
The judge was satisfied the Official Assignee, the Insolvency Service of Ireland and solicitors had taken “all reasonable steps” to reach out to Mr Egan to obtain information concerning his financial affairs. No less than 14 attempts to elicit that information had proven unsuccessful, he said.
There was a consistent pattern of non co-operation and of deliberately ignoring the order of adjudication, he said. Mr Egan had said a couple of times he was considering the matter but even when the application to extend gave him an opportunity “to mend his hand belatedly”, he had not done so.
The Official Assignee had established Mr Egan has failed to cooperate which gives rise to the possibility there may be a failure to disclose assets, the judge said.
The only mitigating factor apparent from Mr Egan’s “minimal” communication was a reference in very general terms to his suffering health conditions, the judge said. No detail was provided and there was nothing to suggest this was a plausible basis for his failure to respond on 14 separate occasions, the judge said.
This non co-operation was “very much at the extreme end” of the spectrum, he said. He ordered that that the bankruptcy be extended by seven years from November 7th 2023 to November 7th 2030.
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