While
bankrupts in the UK face
only one year in financial purdah, in Ireland
it is 12 years – despite promises of reform from the Dublin government.
This
has led to a number of Irish Business' entering the UK and changing their Centre of
Main Interest (“COMI”).
Two
recent cases cast different dispersions about the ability to change a person
COMI
The
first case was an Irish couple who built up a €1bn (£800m) portfolio of luxury
property, stretching from London to Washington DC and Stockholm , will attempt to file for bankruptcy in London on Thursday.
Brian
O'Donnell, a high-profile Dublin corporate
lawyer, and his psychiatrist wife, Mary Patricia O'Donnell, are accused of
being among the Irish "bankruptcy tourists" fleeing to the UK to use Britain 's more lenient bankruptcy laws. Mr McFeely’s Coalport company built the Priory Hall apartments in Dublin , and the
O’Donnells are being pursued by Bank of Ireland for €75 million in unpaid loans
related mainly to property investments. Both claim their main centre of business
activity is Britain where
the bankruptcy laws are different to those in Ireland . The High Court has
currently adjourned the hearing and it is not certain where COMI lies.
Another
case involved Mr Quinn, a well known Irish businessman who originally was
declared bankrupt in the UK
on presentation of his own petition. He contested that he had switched his COMI
to the UK .
The Irish Banks were not happy that he had declared bankruptcy in the UK and sought
to seek an annulment. This was based on the fact that he had not disclosed
various tax and other disclosures when going bankrupt. The Bankruptcy was
annulled in the UK and a few
days later he was declared bankrupt in Dublin .