Judge continues Quinn assets order

A High Court judge has continued orders restraining the children of bankrupt businessman Sean Quinn, his nephew and two sons in law and a number of international companies from dealing with assets owned or controlled by them worldwide below €50million each.

The Quinn defendants will be allowed €2,000 living expenses each until the injunction orders return to court next Wednesday, plus legal expenses which will be subject to formal approval by solicitors for Irish Bank Resolution Corporation, formerly Anglo. The bank had sought and secured interim freezing orders last week in an effort to protect up to €400million of assets in the Quinn's international property group.

Today, Bill Shipsey SC, for the Quinn side, neither consented to nor opposed the injunctions continuing but indicated his clients would dispute the bank’s entitlement to those freezing orders at a hearing likely to be held next month. The bank wants that hearing held on July 19th but a date has yet to be fixed.

Mr Shipsey also said his clients may seek additional funds to meet pressing domestic expenses, including repair of a roof, and also had legal expenses in various jurisdictions, including Russia and Ukraine

Brian Murray SC, for the bank, said it was only prepared at this stage to pay fees to lawyers in Cyprus for the Quinn side for the purpose of addressing the bank's forthcoming application to discharge an order referring to the European Court of Justice a jurisdictional issue in Cypriot proceedings brought by the Quinns. Counsel indicated the bank would be reluctant to approve payments of other international lawyers engaged by the Quinns but it would address that and other issues in correspondence with the Quinns lawyers.

Mr Justice Peter Kelly today continued to June 27th next the orders freezing assets owned or controlled worldwide by the five children - Aoife, Ciara, Colette, Brenda and Sean Junior; Mr Quinn's nephew Peter Darragh Quinn and two sons-in-law - Stephen Kelly and Niall McPartland, and several companies, below €50million each except for living expenses of €2,000.

He said any application to vary those orders to meet particular expenses, even where the variation was consented to by the bank, would have to be mentioned to the court.

He adjourned for a week IBRC's application to transfer to the Commercial Court its proceedings against the Quinn defendants and a number of companies based in Belize, Panama, Russia and United Arab Emirates aimed at protecting assets in the IPG. The bank claims the companies have cooperated with the Quinns in stripping assets from the IPG.

Mr Shipsey said his side would oppose the transfer application on grounds including the bank's delay in seeking to transfer its proceedings issued a year ago against the Quinn defendants to protect IPG assets. His side believed the bank may have not applied to transfer the case before now for "tactical reasons" but he wanted an opportunity to put that and other matters on affidavit.

Mr Murray said the Quinn side were well equipped to resist the transfer application and had been involved in this case for more than a year.

The judge said delay was a factor he takes into account in considering whether to transfer cases to the Commercial list and he also noted the "tactical reasons" claim. He said he would give the Quinn side an opportunity to outline its opposition to transfer and would deal with that issue next Wednesday as well as the application to further continue the freezing orders until the issue of the bank's entitlement to those freezing orders is decided.

IBRC sought the orders last week, arguing they were necessary because the bank believed the Quinns had "misappropriated" assets from their international property group (IPG) as part of a scheme to frustrate the bank's efforts to recover loans of up to €2.8bn against them and were prepared to dispose of those assets.

The bank said the family may have continued to take actions implementing that scheme during High Court contempt proceedings against Sean Quinn snr, his son Sean and Peter Darragh Quinn, on which judgment will be delivered next Tuesday. It was concerned assets valued up to €400million were at risk, the bank said.

In an affidavit, Richard Woodhouse of IBRC referred to the contempt proceedings which the three Quinn defendants denied contempt of court orders of June and July 2011 restraining the stripping of assets from the IPG.

While admitting there was a scheme to place assets beyond the bank's reach, all three denied any steps were taken after the court orders to further that scheme.

IBRC disputes that claim and, in seeking the freezing orders last week, said it had emerged from the contempt proceedings a firm in the United Arab Emirates, Senat Legal Consultancy FZ LLC was co-ordinating litigation in all jurisdictions on behalf of the Quinn family. Senat Legal, which specialises in global litigation and its sister company Senat FZC, both based in Dubai, "appeared central to the scheme", it said.

Mr Woodhouse also said the bank had obtained new information in the past few months demonstrating the extent to which steps have been taken by the family and their agents to appropriate assets in which IBRC has an interest.

This evidence included a distinct pattern of shares in valuable Russian IPG companies being transferred to off-shore companies in recent months and Peter Darragh Quinn's evidence in the contempt proceedings he requested purchase of eight off-shore shelf companies for the "Quinn family" at the request of the family's Russian advisers, the law firm A&B.

Other information included a Northern Ireland High Court ruling last month setting aside a purported assignment by Sean Quinn of a US45.2m debt, he said.

It was also believed money assets had been taken from IPG companies and a receiver appointed by IBRC over Quinn Investments Sweden, one of the group's main holding companies, had not obtained any income from any of those companies, he said.

The proceedings are by IBRC and Quinn Investments Sweden, one of the main holding companies in the IPG which was placed into bankruptcy on IBRC's application last July, plus the bankruptcy receiver, Leif Baecklund. QIS was joined as a plaintiff on grounds the alleged scheme had substantially deprived QIS of its assets.

In separate proceedings, Mrs Patricia Quinn and her children, who have owned the Quinn companies since 2002, claim they are not liable for loans of some €2.8 billion made by Anglo to Quinn companies because those loans were unlawfully made to prop up the bank's share price.