A HIGH Court ruling on whether bankrupt businessman Seán Quinn, his son and nephew acted in contempt of court orders, which restrained them from putting assets beyond the reach of the former Anglo Irish Bank, has been reserved to next month.
Ms Justice Elizabeth Dunne said she would try to rule on the contempt claims as soon as possible but would not be in a position to deliver judgment this law term, ending on May 24th. The next term opens on June 6th.
The 15-day hearing of the application by Irish Bank Resolution Corporation (formerly Anglo) for orders for attachment and, if necessary, committal of Mr Quinn, his son Seán and nephew Peter Darragh Quinn for alleged contempt, concluded yesterday. The judge has said she will first decide whether there was contempt before hearing arguments as to what action should be taken.
In closing arguments for IBRC, Paul Gallagher SC said Mr Quinn and members of his family had engaged in fraudulent conduct and had shown “a willingness to pervert the course of justice” and use the Irish and foreign courts for their own purposes.
The Quinns were “determined” to put assets beyond Anglo’s reach and saw no distinction between assets in various companies and their own. This “wholesale dissipation of assets” was for “the avowed purpose” of ensuring that if the bank won its case aimed at recovering monies from those assets, there would be “nothing” there for it.
Mr Gallagher said “extraordinary”, “misleading”, “inaccurate”, “bizarre” and “untrue” statements had been made to the Irish courts and courts abroad on behalf of the family in proceedings related to alleged stripping of assets in the Quinn international property group (IPG), including valuable properties in Russia and Ukraine.
The Quinns had also failed to provide any explanation for requests made to an international law firm for the establishment of eight offshore companies, he said. The existence of that firm also only emerged accidentally in court.
The three respondents have denied they acted in contempt of restraining court orders of June and July 2011. They argue that while steps were taken to prevent the bank moving against assets, no steps in furtherance of that were taken after the orders were made.
The restraint orders were made in proceedings where the bank sought to prevent assets in the IPG, valued at up to €500 million and over which the bank claims it has securities, being put beyond its reach.
The bank claims that contempt by Mr Quinn and his nephew via their alleged involvement in the alleged assignment of about $130 million worth of loans to a Belize entity for nominal consideration on or after July 20th, 2011, and in backdating those loans to April 2011.
It is also alleged the two were involved in a fraudulent assignment on or after July 6th, 2011, of a €45.2 million debt to a Northern Ireland company, Innishmore, controlled by Peter Darragh Quinn, with a view to taking control of a Ukrainian property asset worth about $78 million. A Northern Ireland court recently declared that assignment was invalid, the court heard yesterday.
