High Court threat to Seán Quinn
Staff said to be ‘intimidated’ by recent visit to former company
FORMER billionaire Seán Quinn has been threatened with a High Court injunction over accusations he repeatedly trespassed on company land that he once owned in an act that “intimidated” staff.
Mr Quinn was seen driving around Quinn Industrial Holdings last Tuesday even though he has received warnings and a solicitor’s letter to stay away.
The events of last week are being interpreted as an escalation in tensions between the Quinns and the company. These had waned during the Covid-19 lockdown.
THE former billionaire Seán Quinn has been threatened with a High Court injunction over accusations that he repeatedly trespassed on to a company he once owned in an act that “intimidated” staff.
Mr Quinn was seen driving around Quinn Industrial Holdings last Tuesday, even though he has received numerous requests and a solicitor’s letter to stay away.
His presence at Doon Quarry came days after this newspaper revealed his children have now joined his battle to get his company back by demanding a 22 per cent stake in a company they claim is theirs.
The latest in a series of warnings from the company to Mr Quinn accused the former tycoon of “unlawfully” entering Doon Quarry last Tuesday in a “further act of trespass” and claimed his “actions are intimidating to staff of the company”.
It accused him of “several acts of trespass on to our client’s property since December”. It warned that further acts of “trespass/intimidation” at the company shall lead it to seek court orders to restrain him from “unlawful trespass”.
The company has also separately responded to a demand from five Quinn children that a 22 per cent shareholding in Quinn Industrial Holdings be transferred to them.
“Our clients believe that this is simply part of the ongoing process of harassment and miscommunication being visited on them. In light of this, the correspondence was duly reported to the authorities, namely the gardaí and the PSNI, as part of this course of harassment and miscommunication,” the letter states.
The firm claimed the children’s “attempt at legal action” was “fatally flawed” and said it had referred their correspondence to gardaí and the PSNI.
As reported last weekend, Seán Junior, Colette, Aoife, Brenda and Ciara Quinn instructed lawyers to demand the shares from several directors, including Kevin Lunney, Liam McCaffrey, Dara O’Reilly and John McCartin.
The events of the past fortnight led to a meeting between the executives of Quinn Industrial Holdings and senior garda leading the investigation. Five directors, including Mr Lunney, are receiving protection from gardaí since Mr Lunney’s kidnap and torture last year.
Seán Quinn’s former management team secured American investment to buy back Quinn’s businesses after he was ousted over a €2bn bank debt. Seán Quinn claims shares vested in management were intended for his family. But the directors and the American investors who bought QIH disputed Seán Quinn’s claims.
The company has declined to comment. Mr Quinn said he had nothing to say when contacted by the Sunday Independent yesterday. Seán Quinn has made a separate statement to gardaí about financial practices at QIH. He has denied wrongdoing and denied involvement in the campaign of intimidation against the company.