Court told Quinn nephew advised on foiling Anglo

A NEPHEW of the former billionaire Seán Quinn got advice from a Russian firm of solicitors on how to frustrate Anglo Irish Bank in effecting security it had on a valuable international property portfolio, the High Court has heard.

The court was told Seán Quinn became convinced the Russian strategy should be implemented after he heard an interview on the radio with the chief executive of Anglo, Mike Ansley.

The Irish Bank Resolution Corporation, of which Anglo is now a part, is seeking to have Mr Quinn, his son Seán Quinn jnr and his nephew Peter Darragh Quinn jailed for contempt in a case that opened yesterday before Ms Justice Elizabeth Dunne.

Outlining the case for the now State-owned bank, Paul Gallagher SC said the defendants’ position appeared to be that, yes, the steps alleged were taken, but that they were taken prior to an order of the High Court in June of last year forbidding any such actions.

However, the bank’s position is that it believes the family continued with its efforts after the court order.

Mr Gallagher said the family was disputing the legality of debts totalling €2.88 billion that the bank said they owed. The courts had not yet ruled on this but he said the family had said it had decided to take steps to ensure a portfolio of foreign properties, put up as security against Anglo loans, would be beyond the reach of the bank if the family lost its action.

At issue are properties worth hundreds of millions of euro in Russia, Ukraine, Turkey and India. The properties were owned by way of a labyrinthine network of holding companies that were ultimately owned by Mr Quinn’s five adult children.

Loans worth up to €455 million issued by Anglo were related to the property portfolio. The bank had secured share pledges over the companies involved and other guarantees.

One of the Quinn companies involved, Demesne Investments, with an address in Co Fermanagh, had assigned onward its rights to $175 million due from companies in Russia and the Ukraine as part of the process that threatened IBRC’s security.

Mr Quinn and his nephew have said these assignments occurred in April last year, before the High Court orders, but the bank disputes this.

Mr Quinn, in an affidavit, has said he signed “hundreds of documents” around April 4th last year, none of which were in English, as part of the strategy for frustrating Anglo that had been outlined to his nephew by the Russian firm of solicitors.

One assignment was purportedly to a Belize company, Galfis Overseas Ltd, but in a “breakthrough” in December last, the bank discovered through the courts in Belize that this company was still a shelf company with no directors or shareholders in April 2011, Mr Gallagher said.

The company had no directors or shareholders until July 6th, 2011, he said.

Peter Quinn, in an affidavit to the court, has said there was no assignment to Galfis in April 2011. Rather, he said, there was an assignment to a Yaroslav Gurnyak, a Ukrainian national.

Mr Gurnyak, Mr Gallagher said, is a former rail worker who claims to be a corporate restructuring expert. The bank has been told by the courts in Belize that he is the ultimate owner of Galfis, which has one “bearer share”.

Peter Quinn has said his signature, which appears on some documents relevant to the case, is a forgery.

Mr Gallagher said Mr Quinn and his nephew were the “prime movers” in the contempts being alleged. Seán Quinn jnr’s alleged contempt, he said, arose from his purported involvement in the decision to give $500,000 to Larisa Yanez Puga, a Ukrainian woman who managed two companies that operated valuable buildings in Kiev. The payment was made as IBRC was about to gain control of the companies that held ownership of the buildings.