'Bad blood' between Quinn and Anglo 'impossible to exaggerate'

The "extraordinary" bitterness and "bad blood" between bankrupt businessman Sean Quinn and Anglo Irish Bank, which he blames for the reversal of the Quinn family's fortunes, is "impossible to exaggerate", the High Court was told today (Friday). It was most unlikely, given the attitude of Mr Quinn and his family to their "implacable adversary", they would take a risk of being subject of an application by that same adversary to be jailed, Brian O'Moore SC said. This was "a gloves-off dispute" where any breach of court injunctions would be expected to bring down a fierce reaction from the bank. The animus by Mr Quinn and others in his family to the bank was driven by his belief the bank was responsible for the reversals in the Quinns' fortunes, counsel said. Sean Quinn was driven by anger towards the bank, both its current management, and the previous management on foot of whose assurances he had invested enormous sums of money. While the bank was alleging some "dreadfully sophisticated masterplan" to place assets beyond its reach had been enaged in by the Quinns, the evidence showed no such masterplan, Mr O'Moore argued. Instead, what was engaged in was "firefighting of the most extreme sort" in the period up to and just after the bank's takeover of Quinn companies on April 14, 2011, he said. Counsel was making closing submissions on behalf of the Quinns opposing the application by the bank, now Irish Bank Resolution Corporation (IBRC) for orders for attachment and, if necessary, committal of Sean Quinn Senior, his son Sean and nephew Peter Darragh Quinn for alleged contempt of court orders restraining them taking steps to put assets beyond the reach of the bank. The orders were made in June and July 2011 in proceedings where the bank sought to prevent assets in the Quinn international property group, valued at up to €500m, being put beyond its reach. In separate proceedings, Mrs Patricia Quinn and her five adult children, who have owned the Quin companies since 2002, claim they are not liable for loans of some €2.34 billion made by Anglo to Quinn companies because those loans were unlawfully made to prop up the bank's share price. In the contempt proceedings, the bank claims contempt by Sean Quinn Senior and Peter Quinn via their alleged involvement in the alleged assigment of about US$130m worth of loans to a Belize entity for nominal consideration on or after July 20, 2011 and in back-dating those loans to April 2011. It is also alleged the two were involved in a fraudulent assigment on or after July 6, 2011, of a €45.2m debt to a Northern Ireland company, Innishmore, controlled by Peter Darragh Quinn, with a view to taking control of a Ukranian property asset worth about US$78m. A Northern Ireland court recently declared that assignment was invalid, the court heard yesterday.. All three respondents are also alleged to have been involved in late August 2011 in a process leading to a US$500,000 payment being made out of the accounts of Quinn Properties Ukraine to its general director, Ms Janis Puga. That money remains frozen. The contempt proceedings will conclude on Tuesday when it is expected Ms Justice Elizabeth Dunne will reserve judgment. Closing submissions by Mr O'Moore and by Bill Shipsey SC, for the Quinns, concluded today and the closing reply for the bank will be made on Tuesday. All three respondents have said the family did take steps to prevent the bank moving against various assets but they deny any such steps were taken after the court orders were made. The bank has rejected the claim no steps were taken after the orders and has alleged there was back-dating of documents in an effort to support the claims of no breach. Sean Quinn Senior and his nephew were the driving forces of a plan to put assets beyond the reach of the bank and Sean Quinn Junior was also aware of that plan, the bank claims. Evidence showed steps in furtherance of that plan were carried out after the court orders, it also claims. Explanations provided by the Quinns for the transfer of valuable assets in Russia and Ukraine for no consideration, or for nominal consideration, to apparently unconnected entities, including a Ukranian man, were "incredible", it claims. Today, Mr O'Moore said Peter Quinn had relied on an established Russian law firm to act for the Quinns relating to assignments of loans but his confidence in the firm had long since passed as a result of how matters were handled. Mr Quinn trusted the firm and was at their mercy, he said. The bank had alleged Peter Quinn was a driving force of the alleged assets-striping plan but had advanced no reason why he, an employee of the Quinn family, would do so for "no palpable reward", he said. Mr O'Moore also addressed in detail 24 matters which, the bank claims, amounted to contempt. Some of those matters were repetitive and none supported the claims of contempt, counsel argued.