Priest among dozens of witnesses interviewed in Quinn attacks probe
A PRIEST who gave a scathing homily condemning a Mafia-style group with its own godfather behind the abduction and torture of a Fermanagh businessman is one of at least 20 witnesses police in the Republic have interviewed about attacks on the Quinn companies.
Two detectives were assigned to investigate the history of attacks and intimidation on the company following the abduction and attack on Co Fermanagh businessman Kevin Lunney, a director of Quinn Industrial Holdings, in September.
Five months on, their inquiry has proven to be far more complex than anticipated.
Informed sources say the list of interviewees is running into the dozens as investigators broaden their remit from the historic attacks on the company to ventures linked to former billionaire Sean Quinn.
Separately, the Garda National Economic Crime Bureau has begun an investigation into the financial affairs of those suspected of organising the historic attacks on the former Quinn businesses.
The prime suspect for organising the attacks, Cyril McGuinness, died during a police raid of his hideaway in Derbyshire weeks after the Lunney attack.
Gardai, helped by computer specialists and forensic accountants, are understood to be investigating accounts and companies linked to McGuinness.
The Criminal Assets Bureau is separately engaged in “preparatory” work ahead of financial action it might take.
Detectives investigating the history of sabotage at the company, meanwhile, have interviewed several witnesses about a trust set up in 2012 to help Sean Quinn pay his legal fees in 2012.
The Erne Group Trust paid more than €1.7m (£1.4m) which had been loaned by 35 people to help defray the massive legal costs incurred by the former Derrylin tycoon and his family.
Detectives have also interviewed at least one investor in an insurance company launched by associates of Sean Quinn’s in 2014 and which is now in administration.
Other lines of inquiry include the background to the former management team acquiring
Quinn Industrial Holdings in 2014, and Sean Quinn’s role in and subsequent departure from the businesses.
Witnesses contacted by detectives include Co Cavan priest Fr Oliver O’Reilly, whose sermon, in which he blamed a “Mafia-style group with its own ‘Godfather’” for the Lunney attack, was applauded by parishioners.
They also include the administrator of the dioceses Monsignor Liam Kelly, to whom Sean Quinn complained after Fr O’Reilly’s homily, claiming he had been “falsely accused of complicity in the attack from the altar”.
Mr Lunney (50) was abducted outside his home near Derrylin and taken to a horsebox across the border, where he was savagely beaten.
Former executives of the Quinn businesses, including Paul O’Brien, whose car was petrol-bombed outside his home in August 2013, have also been contacted as a witness.
Mr O’Brien took over as chief executive of the Quinn businesses after Sean Quinn and his management team were ousted in 2011. Sean Quinn is understood to have made several allegations to gardai against the directors of Quinn Industrial Holdings.
Mr Quinn’s former management team, backed by American investors, acquired the manufacturing divisions of the Quinn Group in 2014.
Mr Quinn was hired back as a consultant but left after the relationship soured. The attacks on the businesses escalated in 2018.