Well, we’ll see. Having been given three weeks to reverse their contempt of court in putting assets beyond the reach of the former Anglo-Irish Bank, now the state-owned Irish Bank Resolution Corporation (IBRC), the bankrupt Sean “I am not dishonest” Quinn snr, his son Sean, and his nephew Peter Darragh Quinn have failed to convince the court of their compliance with the court orders. As a result Sean Quinn jnr and Peter Darragh Quinn have been jailed for three months.
Miss Justice Elizabeth Dunne ruled later, while punitive sanction was a last resort, there had been an “outrageous” contempt of court orders by Sean Quinn Senior, Sean Jnr and Peter Quinn and she was not happy with their level of co-operation to date to reverse the asset-stripping measures.
In those circumstances, she would grant the former Anglo Irish Bank’s application to jail Sean Junior and Peter Quinn but leave over a punitive sanction against Sean Quinn so that he should take further steps towards compliance.
The bank had said it would not seek to jail Sean Quinn Senior because it wanted him to be available to take steps to unwind the asset-stripping measures as he had admitted directing a scheme to move assets beyond the reach of the bank.
The judge said the imprisoned two could apply to the court earlier than the three month period if they considered they had purged their contempt, but refused an application by Bill Shipsey SC, for the Quinns, to put a stay on her orders pending appeal to the Supreme Court.
However, a warrant had to be issued for the arrest of Peter Darragh Quinn.
Sean Quinn and his son were in the packed courtroom but a warrant was issued just after noon for the arrest of Peter Quinn over his failure to attend when the court began at 11am or to respond to phone calls to elicit his whereabouts.
The judge heard a solicitor for the Quinn side was phoned after 10am apparently by a relative of Peter Quinn’s to say he was sick but further efforts to contact that person or Peter Quinn failed. The Quinn’s solicitors had last seen Peter Quinn between 2-3am when he filed affidavits for the hearing and he appeared “okay”, it was stated.
And a final note from the Irish Times report
The Quinns’ lawyers objected to the judge viewing a video-recording of a January 2012 meeting in Kiev, Ukraine – published in the Irish Mail on Sunday last month – and which the bank claimed showed Peter Quinn and Sean Junior discussing the moving of funds and showed Peter Quinn was “prepared to lie” to the court.
The judge viewed the video but said it related to matters on which she had already made findings and it did not assist her in dealing with other matters yesterday. She could not see there was intimidation of the Quinns at the taped meeting, as had been argued, she added.
The judge said she was suprised at the late disclosures of the €1 million payment to a firm of Russian lawyers who acted for the Quinns and of the employment contracts for Peter Quinn and Sean Quinn Junior.
She was also surprised at late disclosures of monies paid to Quinn family members and concerning transfer of part of a shareholding in a Russian company, a transfer which was denied by Peter Quinn but which “appeared to have his handwriting all over it”.
According to the BBC report
Sean Quinn avoided jail but must co-operate with the Irish Bank Resolution Corporation within three months.
Sean jnr and Peter Darragh Quinn will be jailed until the contempt of court in breaching an order not to put 500m euro of overseas property assets beyond the reach of the former Anglo Irish bank is purged.
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