Solicitor Niall McPartland did not stand to make any personal gain from payments of €6 million from Quinn Finance in 2008, the Commercial Court was told today.
Rossa Fanning, for Mr McPartland, told the court that payments to the son-in-law of businessman Seán Quinn related to investments in shares in Anglo Irish Bank.
Quinn Finance, which was removed by Irish Bank Resolution Corporation (formerly Anglo) from the control of the Quinn family in April 2011, has brought proceedings against Mr McPartland, Castleknock Road, Castleknock, Dublin.
The case arises from payments made over several months in 2008 by Quinn Finance (under its former management) to Mr McPartland’s account with NCB Stockbrokers Ltd.
The payments were to meet margin calls on contracts for difference (CFDs) investments in shares in Anglo Irish Bank and it is claimed there is no record of the payments being authorised by Quinn Finance.
Robert Dix, the new chairman of Quinn Finance, said it wanted to recover €6.1 million from Mr McPartland representing transfers from Quinn Finance “under its prior management” to him for margin calls due by Mr McPartland “in the context of his private wealth management arrangements”, including his agreement for a CFD account.
Mr Fanning said his client had “nothing to do” with those payments by Quinn Finance and had rather made a serious error and acted “unwisely” in letting that company use his name while engaging in company trading.
His client, counsel added, did not stand to make any personal gain from that trading, and had held the monies on trust for the benefit of Quinn Finance.
Mr Justice Peter Kelly asked why Mr McPartland had not outlined those matters when Quinn Finance wrote to him last January asking about the payments?
That letter, the court heard, followed a review of the Quinn Finance accounts undertaken after IBRC took over various Quinn companies in April 2011.
Mr Fanning said Mr McPartland was fully engaged in the other legal proceedings brought by the Quinn family against IBRC (where they are challenging the takeover of their companies and arguing they are not liable for loans of some €2.3 billion made by Anglo to Quinn companies on grounds those were made for the illegal objective of propping up the bank’s share price).
Earlier, Una Tighe, for Quinn Finance, on consent of Mr Fanning, applied for the case to be fast-tracked by the Commercial Court.
Mr Justice Kelly agreed to admit the case to the Commercial Court and listed it for hearing on June 19th.
Quinn Finance was the funding vehicle for the Quinn international property group established by Mr Quinn to develop a large international property portfolio for the benefit of his five adult children.
