THE FORMER CEO of Anglo Irish Bank, David Drumm, has lost a bid to have a challenge against his bankruptcy proceedings thrown out – after a bankruptcy trustee filed a vital form 51 minutes too late.

Lawyers for Drumm had filed a motion at a bankruptcy court in Boston seeking to have the challenge of bankruptcy trustee Kathleen Dwyer dismissed because it was filed after the deadline imposed by the court.

Her ’727 motion’ – referring to the section of US bankruptcy law under which a party can challenge another person’s discharge from bankruptcy – was filed at 5:21pm on August 31 last year, after the district rule that requires papers to be lodged before 4:30pm.

The Irish Times’ Lara Marlowe said representatives for Drumm had argued that adding Dwyer’s challenge to the case – when Anglo’s successor bank, IBRC, had already filed a 727 motion of its own – would make the case more expensive.

Dwyer’s own lawyer argued that the court’s direction was vague, and had been interpreted to mean ‘midnight’ – a claim to which Judge Frank Bailey agreed.

Dwyer, who formally commands Drumm’s assets during the proceedings and who has already sold one of his Cape Cod properties for nearly $4 million, claims Drumm’s bankruptcy claim is ‘fraudulent’ in some way.

RTÉ News suggests a full bankruptcy trial will now be held this summer, and also reports that the Drumms have moved out of another home in the well-to-do area of Wellesley ahead of the expected sale of that property.

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