State and AIB ask High Court to strike out application to prevent sale of State shareholding in bank
The State and AIB want the High Court to strike out an application aimed at preventing the sale of the government shareholding in the bank.
The action has been brought by Vincent O'Donoghue who describes himself as a businessman with an address at Church Street, Dublin 7.
As part of his proceedings against AIB Plc, the Minister for Finance, Ireland and the Attorney General, he seeks an order preventing the government from taking any steps to dispose all or any parts of the State's shareholding in AIB bank.
In addition to seeking the injunction Mr O'Donoghue seeks a declaration from the High Court that the proposed sale is contrary to the common good and is unlawful.
In a sworn statement he refers to AIB's "long and sorry history of catastrophic governance failures" which he says demonstrates the bank is "incapable of operating in a lawful, responsible and complaint manner."
Among the examples he cites are when the State had to bail out AIB subsidiary ICI in the 1980s, DIRT tax evasion and the 2009 €21.8bn billion bailout of AIB.
He claims if returned to private ownership AIB will "only serve one master" and have the sole focus of "relentlessly pursuing profits" for mostly foreign shareholders.
Both bank and the State parties oppose the action and have also brought motions seeking to have his entire proceedings struck out on grounds including it is vexatious and frivolous bound to fail.
The matter was briefly mentioned before the court yesterday (wed) afternoon when lawyers for the State and AIB asked Mr Justice Paul Gilligan to bring forward the hearing of the application for an injunction to Friday of this week.
Patrick McCann SC for the Minister for Finance said there was some urgency in the matter.
While no timetable or exact date to sell the shares has been set, preparations for an IPO on the Irish and London stockmarkets have been underway for some time.
A possible narrow window, based on factors including stock market stability, when it is believed the State will obtain maximum value for the shares had been identified for late May early June, counsel added.
The mere existence of injunction proceedings in relation to the possible the court heard could have an adverse impact on and could damage potential investor confidence in any IPOin relation the State's shareholding in AIB, counsel said.
The application to move the hearing forward was supported by the bank.
Representing himself Mr O'Donoghue objected to his case being brought forward.
He said a date had been fixed for the hearing of the injunction next Tuesday, and disputed claims the matter was so urgent it needed to heard this week.
He said the court should take account of the fact that the government decision to sell shares had been defeated in a recent vote in the Dail, but that it planned to go ahead with the sale regardless.
In his ruling Mr Justice Gilligan acknowledged a lot of time and expense has gone into the preparation to the possible sale of the State's stake in AIB and said he would hear the case on Friday morning.
