A daughter of jailed bankrupt businessman Seán Quinn has described the former Anglo Irish Bank as “my greatest enemy of all time” in opposing orders requiring some Quinn family members to hand over their personal email account passwords and other information to a receiver.
Ciara Quinn made the comment yesterday when she and other members of the Quinn family strongly opposed receiver Declan Taite’s application for their passwords and financial information dating back two years on grounds including the rights to privacy of themselves and those with whom they are in communication.
Niall McPartland, for the family, said it was legally and morally wrong to allow accountants and lawyers access to personal communications and photos. The family were also concerned information could be passed to the bank which could assist its defence of the family’s action alleging loans of €2.34 billion were made unlawfully by Anglo to Quinn companies.
Michael Collins SC, for Mr Taite, said the orders were a necessary part of efforts to trace the movement of assets in the Quinn family’s international property group (IPG) and his side undertook privileged and irrelevant material would not be used.
Barry O’Donnell, for the bank, undertook not to examine personal information and said any material obtained would be used only for the proceedings aimed at recovering IPG assets and not disclosed to others without leave of the court.
Ms Quinn said six days after receivers took over her bank accounts last September, details of those accounts were published in the Sunday Business Post. “Only the receivers could have done that and I take their undertaking with a pinch of salt,” she said. “I have absolutely no belief in any undertaking by Anglo Irish Bank through their agents or receivers.”
As a mother of three small children, it “has to be wrong” to be required to provide photos of them and other personal and family information to “my greatest enemy of all time”.
Stephen Kelly, a son-in-law of Mr Quinn, said that within days of information concerning him being given to the receiver, he was contacted by a journalist about it.
Both Mr Collins and Mr O’Donnell said they wished to put on record that neither the receiver nor the bank were involved in any leaking of information concerning the Quinns to the media. That point was also made to the Supreme Court, Mr O’Donnell added.
Mr Justice Peter Kelly said he required time to address the issues and he would rule today.
Irish Bank Resolution Corporation, formerly Anglo, last July secured orders appointing Mr Taite receiver over the personal assets of the Quinn children and three of their spouses – Stephen Kelly, Niall McPartland and Karen Woods – following allegations of a conspiracy to put assets beyond the bank’s reach. Mr Taite later applied for orders requiring the Quinns to hand over all books and records concerning their financial assets, including their personal email passwords.
Mr Collins yesterday urged the judge to make the orders requiring disclosure of the material. The matter was urgent amid concerns about movements of assets across the world and must be seen in light of past conduct of the Quinns, he said.
