Provisional date set for Quinn hearing

A HIGH Court judge has indicated he hopes to proceed with a hearing next week of Anglo Irish Bank’s bid for injunctions to prevent businessman Seán Quinn and his family transferring assets from Swedish companies holding the family’s properties in several foreign countries.

Mr Justice Frank Clarke has provisionally fixed the interlocutory injunction application for hearing next Wednesday before the High Court in Cork, as he will be sitting there then.

The proceedings were mentioned yesterday when Bill Shipsey SC, for the Quinn side, indicated they might not be ready to proceed on Wednesday as they would be receiving affidavits from Anglo on Monday evening and might need more time to deal with those.

Paul Gallagher SC, for Anglo, said the bank was anxious to proceed. Mr Gallagher also noted a Swedish court had earlier this week declared the Quinn family’s Swedish company bankrupt.

Anglo had petitioned the Stockholm court to put Quinn Investments Sweden, the top firm in the family’s international property group, into bankruptcy after it failed to respond to repeated requests for the repayment of loans.

Having heard from the sides, Mr Justice Clarke said he hoped to be updated on Tuesday on the state of readiness of the proceedings. He said he hoped the matter would proceed on Wednesday as planned.

Mr Shipsey said he hoped to inform Anglo yesterday whether any of the Quinn company defendants based outside Ireland intend to challenge the jurisdiction of the Irish court to hear the matter.

The judge has continued interim orders aimed at restraining the transfer of assets from Swedish companies holding Quinn family assets in Russia, Turkey, Ukraine and India.

Anglo, owed some €2.9 billion by Quinn interests, claims the Quinn side had set up a “mirror corporate structure” – the Cranaghan Foundation – in a “systematic attempt” to transfer assets to “mirror” Quinn companies for the benefit of the Quinn family.

Such actions were “severely hampering” Anglo’s ability to deal effectively with the property assets and it was concerned those assets may “simply disappear”, Anglo executive Richard Woodhouse said.