FORMER BILLIONAIRE Seán Quinn said yesterday he was “shocked” that Government Ministers had “interfered” in court proceedings abroad where his family is trying to prevent properties worth hundreds of millions of euro being seized by the state-owned Irish Bank Resolution Corporation, formerly Anglo.
Mr Quinn made the comment in a statement issued after the Commercial Court in Dublin made an unprecedented €1.7 billion summary judgment order against him in favour of the bank.
A spokesman for Taoiseach Enda Kenny confirmed last night that a case being taken in Ukraine by the bank in relation to valuable property there was “referenced” by Mr Kenny during a meeting in September with Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovych.
“It was referenced, not discussed, and with a full expression of respect for the independence of the Ukrainian judicial process,” the spokesman said.
Mr Quinn’s comment is also understood to be a reference to alleged representations by the Irish Embassy to Russia, where the Quinns also bought valuable commercial property using loans from Anglo.
In October, a Russian businessman, Andrey Golishev, reportedly wrote to the Irish Ambassador in Moscow, Philip McDonagh, complaining of representations made to the Russian ministry of foreign affairs. A spokesman for the Department of Foreign Affairs was not able to comment on the matter last night.
Mr Quinn’s wife, Patricia, and the couple’s five children are involved in multi-jurisdictional disputes with the bank over properties in Ukraine, Russia, Turkey and India.
The bank is trying to seize the properties which it says were given as collateral for massive loans given to the family by Anglo. However, the family is resisting the bank’s efforts, disputing the legality of the loans and the charges the bank says it has on the properties. The properties are believed to be worth in excess of €500 million.
Last week, a Dublin accountant, Robert Dix, who is involved in the efforts of the bank to seize the properties, wrote an open letter to prime minister of Ukraine Mykola Azarov, in which he said the company that legitimately owned a Kiev shopping mall worth tens of millions of euro, was in danger of being deprived of its property. The massive judgment order made against Mr Quinn yesterday followed another order made last week for €417 million, again in favour of the bank, bringing the total owed by Mr Quinn to €2.16 billion.
In the statement issued by his public relations consultant yesterday, Mr Quinn said: “Today’s action by Anglo Irish Bank in my view is totally pointless, self-serving and vindictive.” He added: “In no way does it improve the bank’s prospects of recovering money for the taxpayer.”
