Seanie and Britain’s Department of Business

WHAT will all the Sir Humphrey civil servant types at Britain’s Department of Business, Innovation and Skills make of it?

Disgraced former banker Sean Fitzpatrick is effectively a co-owner of the huge office block where they work in London.

A statement of affairs at his bankruptcy hearing earlier this week revealed that Seanie had an investment worth €1,584,595 in the property, whose address is 1-19 Victoria Street, SW1.

David Arnold and Deirdre Foley’s Dublin-based property investment and development firm D2 Private bought the building for £175m in early 2008 and it is understood that Fitzpatrick has a small stake in the property through an investment with the firm.

At the time, the annual rent of £9.05m for the 335,000sq ft office block – one of the largest single-let buildings in London’s West End – represented a yield of 4.75 per cent.

What will happen to Fitzpatrick’s share in the investment remains to be seen, but presumably British taxpayers – not to mention Chancellor George Osborne and his boss David Cameron – would be rather surprised to learn that he had one.

Although the lease runs until 2021, given the need to cut their government spending, perhaps they’ll make some choice comments at the next rent review in January 2011.

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