Galway businessman John Sweeney has said he is very glad that he has been exonerated in the High Court over claims by Bank of Ireland that he was hiving off funds due to the bank.
Bank of Ireland admitted in the Commercial Court this morning that while documents filed in the Companies Registration Office gave rise to justifiable concerns, it was now satisfied that there was no intention on the part of Mr Sweeney to be duplicitous and to divert money away from his creditors, to conceal information or to flout a court order or secretly enrich himself.
Mr Sweeney, who is a hotelier and also owns Sweeney Oil Retail and Sweeney Oil Petrol Stations, owes Bank of Ireland around €10m.
Earlier this month, the bank told the High Court it had a suspicion that Mr Sweeney was trying to enrich himself by hiving off money from two companies in which he had failed to disclose any interest. This morning the bank said it had received satisfactory explanations in response to its concerns.
Mr Sweeney said outside that the bank had acknowledged there was absolutely no merit or substance to the allegations. He said the unfounded allegations had been very upsetting and damaging to him and to his family. He said at all times he had tried to do the right thing and he looked forward to refocusing his business.
