Quinn expenses to continue from frozen accounts

Living expenses for members of businessman Sean Quinn’s family must continue to be paid from accounts frozen four years ago rather than from their personal accounts, the High Court has ruled.

Mr Justice Brian McGovern refused an application from a receiver appointed over their assets seeking to vary a previous order which would have allowed the money to come from their personal accounts first before any call is made on the frozen accounts.

The receiver had wanted a 2012 court order varied, arguing there were ample funds in the personal accounts to fund the expenses and, if there was any shortfall, they could then apply for it to be met from the frozen accounts.

Certain members of the family are now working for a company called SMC Products, which was being run by two of their cousins while one member, Ciara Quinn, works part-time as an on-call agency nurse, the receiver claimed.

Mr Quinn senior was, at the time, a director of that same company, it was also claimed.

The receiver, Declan Taite of RSM Farrell Grant Sparks, was appointed in 2012 by Irish Bank Resolution Corporation (IBRC) over assets linked to Quinn companies.

It gave the receiver power to take possession and control of all assets inside or outside the jurisdiction, including, but not limited to, the shareholdings of Ciara Quinn, Colette Quinn, Brenda Quinn, Aoife Quinn, Stephen Kelly (Aoife’s husband), and Niall McPartland (Ciara’s husband).

It was extended to include the provision of information on shareholdings held by Sean Quinn junior’s wife Karen Woods.

The orders were obtained as part of proceedings alleging certain Quinn family members and others played a role in a conspiracy to put €500m assets beyond the reach of IBRC.

As a result of various criminal proceedings involving ex-Anglo bankers, the case is unlikely to he heard until 2018.

The receiver sought to vary the orders after Sean Quinn Jnr notified the receiver last November he received a €2,347 salary from SMC Products, whose sole shareholder is Seamus McMahon, a nephew of Sean Quinn Snr.

Mr Justice McGovern ruled the living expenses should continue to be paid from the frozen accounts into which the SMC salaries are paid anyway.

He also refused an application that, proceeds from any liquidation of Ms Woods’s Jeffries shareholding be paid into the frozen accounts.

He said the requirement she furnish information on them “seems sufficient for the moment”.