Quinns 'continued asset-stripping'
He was making submissions on the second day of the appeal by Seán Quinn jnr to a five-judge Supreme Court against the High Court finding he was in contempt. He is also appealing the High Court decision to jail him for failure to comply with the coercive orders.
Quinn jnr, who has been detained in the Training Unit of Mountjoy Prison since July 20th last, has been permitted leave there to attend the appeal and was again in court today with wife Karen Woods and brother-in-law, Niall McPartland.
He contends he was not in contempt of the High Court orders of June and July 2011 and, even if he was, it was disproportionate to jail him in the context of the court's limited findings of contempt in his case.
Last June, Ms Justice Elizabeth Dunne made the one finding of contempt against Quinn jnr and made additional findings of contempt against Seán Quinn snr and his nephew, Peter Darragh Quinn. The judge found contempt against Quinn jnr via his participation in a $500,000 payment to the general director of QPU, Larissa Puga, on the eve of the takeover of that company by IBRC.
She made the jailing orders on July 20th after finding all three failed to adequately comply with some 30 coercive orders aimed at unwinding the asset-stripping scheme.
She indicated she was sending Quinn jnr and Peter Darragh Quinn to jail for three months but, if the coercive orders were still not complied with, they might remain there indefinitely.
The judge said she would not jail Seán Quinn snr at this stage because she wanted him to be available to assist IBRC in its efforts to protect the IPG assets. When
Peter Darragh Quinn did not turn up on July 20th, a warrant was issued for his arrest which remains unexecuted as he continues to live at his home across the Border in Co Fermanagh.
In his appeal, Quinn jnr argues there was no evidence on which the High Court could have concluded he participated in the payment to Ms Puga. IBRC had failed to advance a reason why he would do so, he contends.
IBRC wants the Supreme Court consider material an administrator appointed by it recently salvaged from the damaged hard drive of a computer operated by a Russian company in the IPG.
That material, the bank claims, shows the Quinns had employment contracts with various Russian companies providing for multi-million termination of employment payments for various members of the family, including €36 million each for Aoife, Ciara and Colette Quinn, €15 million for Seán Quinn jnr and €36 million for his wife.
Some of those contracts were backdated to make it appear they were signed before the court orders restraining asset-stripping, the bank claims.
IBRC claims this and other new evidence shows Seán Quinn jnr was a "key decision maker" in relation to management and control of Russian and other international companies at the centre of alleged asset-stripping measures.
Had this material been before the High Court in the contempt hearing, it would have had an important influence on the court, the bank claims. The material also includes a video recording of a meeting in Kiev on July 21st 2012 which, the bank claims, showed Seán Quinn jnr was involved in an asset-stripping scheme in the Ukraine.
