Nephew of Quinn in court clash Ukrainian debt deal was ‘immoral’, counsel claims
A JUDGE told Seán Quinn’s nephew to ‘return to common sense’ after he claimed that transferring money from a troubled family company was not illegal.
Peter Quinn – who could face jail if he is found in contempt of court – told Judge Elizabeth Dunne he was prepared to take risks to protect family assets from the State bank, including doing deals with strangers.
Anglo, now known as Irish Bank Resolution Corporation, says it is owed €2.8billion by the Quinns and has taken legal action on multiple fronts to recover the money. In the current case, it claims that Seán Quinn, his son and his nephew are in contempt of court orders freezing their foreign assets by moving them out of the court’s reach.
The court was told that the family lined up a ‘mysterious’ Ukrainian ex-railway worker to ‘extract’ cash from Moscow property company Finansstroy, which applied for bankruptcy last year. For this pur- pose, debts of €130million were signed over to Yaroslav Gurnyak. But Peter Quinn then doubled the interest rate payable. By increasing the company debts, he was reducing its assets, the court heard.
Under questioning, Peter Quinn did not admit he had done anything wrong. Paul Gallagher SC, for Anglo, suggested the interest rate increase
‘You think it’s funny, do you?’
– from 15 per cent to 30 per cent – was ‘immoral’, to which Mr Quinn replied: ‘I didn’t think it was unlawful and I thought it would be in the best interests of the shareholders.’
Miss Justice Dunne interjected: ‘Can we try to make a return to the realms of common sense, Mr Quinn, and think about the answers you’re giving to the questions?’
Mr Gallagher then put it to him: ‘You don’t need to be a lawyer to know the taking of money from a company is illegal?’, to which Peter Quinn replied, ‘No money was taken from it.’ Mr Gallagher also said that doubling the interest rate ‘had the result of increasing its indebtedness. Not only that but you backdated it to April 2007?’ To this, Peter Quinn said: ‘That’s correct.’
Later, when challenged about transferring assets of €21million to ‘an unknown Ukrainian’ [Mr Gurnyak] for just $100, Mr Gallagher asked Peter Quinn: ‘You think it’s funny, do you?’ He replied: ‘No, I don’t think it’s funny.’ Mr Gallagher added: ‘ To keep it away from the bank you give it to someone you don’t know for $100.’
Peter Quinn admitted it was ‘risky’. The Quinn family was to get a 20 per cent slice of any cash that Mr Gurnyak was able to ‘recover’ – under a ‘gentleman’s agreement’.
He said: ‘My view was the possibility of getting something from somebody was much better than the certainty of getting nothing from Anglo.’
The hearing continues.