You're reading: Irish bank readies bad debt writeoff over Ukraina mall

Unable to take control of a prime real estate asset as part of a global debt recovery plan, a state-owned Irish bank is getting ready to write off a debt related to Kyiv’s Univermag Ukraina shopping center located on Prospekt Peremohy.

The property once belonged to the now bankrupt Sean Quinn of Ireland and his family that owes the bank over $3 billion, including $600 million of foreign properties that spans the globe, one of which is the $78 million Ukraina shopping mall that has an estimated $10 million yearly rent roll.

The Irish Bank Resolution Corporation raised the amount of its bad debt provision against the Quinn’s $3 billion loans to more than $2.4 billion from $2.3 billion, the Irish Times reported on Aug. 27.
The Irish newspaper reported that the high bad debt tally related to the loss of rental income and cash flow from Russian properties that the Quinn family once owned.

Courts in Dublin have ruled that Quinn, his son and nephew were in contempt of court for keeping the family’s foreign real estate properties beyond the reach of the bank. The Quinns have maintained their innocence and have blamed the bank for the predicament in which it is in.

When IBRC took action in 2011 to take control of the Ukraina shopping mall, it was met with stiff resistance in Ukrainian courts in moves allegedly orchestrated by the mall’s former director Larisa Yanez-Puga who still controls the prime asset.

The Kyiv Post has been unable to make contact with Yanez-Puga through phone calls and visits to the shopping mall’s management office located inside the center.

IBRC has since been stuck in constant litigation in Ukraine’s notoriously corrupt courts over the shopping mall with no end in sight. It has taken up the case with Ukraine’s authorities who have officially labeled the situation a “raider attack.”

Quinn family members are believed to still control Ukraina through Yanez-Puga and other Ukrainian associates. Quinn’s son Sean Jr. is serving three months in jail for contempt of court for putting assets beyond the reach of the bank.

The Irish Times reported that Quinn Sr.’s wife and children have issued legal action against the bank, claiming they are not liable for €2.34 billion of loans as they were advanced illegally to prop up the bank’s share price.
Kyiv Post staff writer Mark Rachkevych can be reached at [email protected].