Paddy McKillen has returned to the witness box in his High Court battle with the Barclay brothers, and claimed that they had shown “no mercy” to him in their quest to take over the Maybourne hotel group that includes Claridge’s, the Connaught and the Berkeley. McKillen also told of the hundreds of millions he has borrowed from banks.
He told the court: “The Barclay interests were trying to buy my debt and put my wife and children out of a home. That was their game plan. They have no mercy.”
McKillen, who is fighting to prevent the Barclays from taking control of the hotel group’s parent company Coroin, said that he owed the state-owned Irish Bank Resolution Corporation, created from a merger of Irish state-owned banking institutions, €300m – the equivalent of £240m.
McKillen, who earlier failed in an application to give his financial evidence in private, added that he owes the Bank of Scotland €55m – nearly £45m – as well as more than £10m to at least one other bank.
However, he said that the banks are “very supportive” because he owns assets across the world and never misses an interest payment, and has around £40m “free cash”.
When it was suggested to him that he might use that cash to pay off his loans, McKillen said: “Give them all our cash? No, I’m sorry. That’s not the way business works.”
The Barclay brothers strenuously deny the allegations against them that there was any plan to oust McKillen from Coroin and claim that he is trying to tarnish their reputations and embarrass them with his claims.
The trial continues.
