Quinn accepts plan 'unethical'

A plan to prevent Anglo Irish Bank seizing valuable assets in Europe owned by the Quinn family was “unethical and wrong”, Peter Quinn, nephew of the former billionaire Seán Quinn, has told the High Court.

However the 34-year-old former manager of the property portfolio said he believed he had done nothing that was illegal under Russian law.

Mr Quinn was asked about a request he made to a Russian law firm, Cameron McKenna, about changes to the ownership of certain valuable properties in Russia. The court heard Cameron McKenna believes it was being asked aboutt the transfer of the ownership of the Russian assets to new companies within the Quinn group.

At the time he was motivated by a desire to prevent Anglo Irish Bank seizing the properties arising from guarantees it had from the Quinns, whom the bank claims owe €2.88 billion. Some of these loans are linked to Russian properties and the bank has security over some of the companies that own the properties. The family has effected changes aimed at preventing the bank seizing the properties.

While the Moscow law firm gave advice on the transferring of the shares in Russian companies that owned properties there, to new companies, Mr Quinn said they were not asked to implement the changes.

He agreed with Paul Gallagher SC, for the bank, that the law firm was not asked to implement the changes, because it would have been reluctant to do so.

Mr Quinn said he did not believe he had done anything that was illegal in Russia. Mr Gallagher suggested that the actions were unethical and wrong. “I wouldn’t argue with that,” Mr Quinn said.

He also agreed that the Quinn family fought the appointment of a share receiver to the Swedish holding company of their international property group while implementing a plan to shift ownership of companies that owned some of its properties in Russia.

He said Stephen Kelly, a son-in-law of Sean Quinn snr, was in charge of the ownership changes and that he did not know the details. He agreed he was involved in getting advice on the movement of properties over which the bank did not have security. He did not know what law firm Mr Kelly had used when implementing the changes.

Mr Quinn has said he was involved in transferrring the right to intercompany loans worth tens of millions of dollars and which were linked to the foreign properties, to a Ukrainian man, Yaroslav Gurnyak, whom he did not know and had never met.

He said there was a gentleman’s agreement that the Ukrainian would give the family 20 per cent of any money he secured as a result of having the rights assigned.

He told Mr Gallagher he had not warned the family of the risks involved in any such move. He agreed the risk was large as the transfer involved moving the rights to beyond the control of the family. He said if nothing was done, then the seizure of the assets by the bank was a certainty.

The bank is contesting Mr Quinn’s evidence and claiming the transfers were actually to a Belize company, Galfis Overseas Ltd, in July 2011.

It claims Mr Quinn, Seán Quinn senior, and Seán Quinn junior, breached orders in June and July last not to take actions to move property beyond the reach of Anglo. It wants the men to be jailed for contempt. The men deny the charges and say the assignments at issue were made prior to the court orders.