Quinn transfers backdated, court told

LOAN TRANSFERS covering €130 million in property assets of Seán Quinn’s family were backdated in an attempt to put them beyond the reach of the former Anglo Irish Bank, the High Court in Belfast heard yesterday.

A judge was told overwhelming and undisputed evidence existed that the assignment over the Kutuzoff Tower in Moscow could not have taken place before July 2011 – by which stage the bankrupt ex- billionaire had lost control of his empire.

Senior counsel for Anglo, now Irish Bank Resolution Corporation (IBRC), insisted there was no authority for the transaction allegedly carried out months earlier.

IBRC wants to seize the tower as part of its bid to recover more than £2 billion from the troubled tycoon. It is seeking an order setting aside the debt transfer by Belize-based Galfis Overseas Ltd.

Gabriel Moss QC, for the bank, as controllers of Quinn Finance and Quinn Hotels Praha, said: “There is absolutely incontrovertible evidence, which has not been contradicted in this case in any shape or form, that the assignment could not have been executed by Galfis prior to July 20th.”

He pointed out that Seán Quinn lost the power to sign off on such deals when the bank moved on his businesses on April 14th last year.

“That is an open-and-shut case of backdating . . . and the circumstances of the document being void,” Mr Moss contended.

“We don’t have to rely on inference. There is documentary evidence showing that April 4th is a bogus date. The one thing that is not in dispute is [that] the purpose of this assignment was to take the property out of the reach of the bank,” he added.

During the hearing, a complex web of alleged business transactions was set out. Mr Moss set out how Galfis was “taken off the shelf” last July for the purpose of the disputed transaction.

Reference was made to the appointment of a Panamanian director and Dubai-based intermediaries. A Ukrainian construction worker with no known business experience was also said to be involved.

With Galfis now in receivership, the IBRC application was not contested.

Proceedings were brought in Northern Ireland because Demesne Investments Ltd, which entered into a prior loan agreement with Galfis, is a Co Fermanagh-registered firm.

Mr Justice McCloskey requested some amendments to the legal papers submitted on behalf of the bank before he rules on the application.

His verdict is due to be delivered next week.