THE LEGAL battle between Anglo Irish Bank and Seán Quinn took a further twist as the bank secured a temporary injunction stopping him and his family moving assets out of their international property empire.
The State-owned bank claimed in an application to the High Court yesterday that Mr Quinn and various family members were engaged in a conspiracy to commit unlawful acts to damage the bank’s ability to recover its loans from the family.
Anglo took similar court actions in Sweden and Russia yesterday to prevent the family moving international assets into what it claimed was a new corporate structure under the name, The Cranaghan Foundation, mirroring the Quinn companies.
The bank has claimed that the transfers were being made for the benefit of the family, in particular the grandchildren of Mr Quinn.
The bank obtained a temporary injunction from Mr Justice Frank Clarke until a further court hearing tomorrow, stopping the family from transferring assets out of Quinn companies in Sweden. The action was taken against Mr Quinn, his five children, his nephew Peter Quinn, who managed the international properties, and his sons-in-law – Stephen Kelly, who worked in an accountancy role in the family business, and solicitor Niall McPartland.
Two companies in Sweden, Indian Trust and Quinn Investments Sweden, which is behind the family’s properties in Russia, Turkey, Ukraine and India, were also named in the fresh action. The application, which was presented by former attorney general Paul Gallagher SC for the bank, was made on an ex parte basis, meaning that the Quinn family were not represented in court.
A spokesman for the family said they were unaware of the action.
Anglo is owed €2.9 billion by the Quinns, of which €2.34 billion relates to Mr Quinn’s losses on the bank’s shares in the 2008 crash.
The court was told the injunction was urgently sought as there had been attempts to interfere in contractual arrangements between the Quinn companies and the bank, which would undermine the security on Anglo’s loans.
The action follows a move by the Quinns last week to retain control of their international properties by issuing new shares in seven subsidiaries of Quinn Investments Sweden to their firm, Indian Trust.
This was aimed at circumventing Anglo’s attempt to appoint a receiver to Quinn Investments Sweden in a Stockholm court, which rules on the case on July 5th.