Quinns given €2k each to live on until next week

Bankrupt businessman Sean Quinn and family members under interim freezing orders protecting assets in the Quinn property group have been granted €2,000 each in living expenses until next week.

A High Court judge yesterday continued orders restraining the children of Mr Quinn, a nephew, two sons-in-law, and a number of international companies dealing with assets owned or controlled by them worldwide below €50m each.

The Quinns will be allowed €2,000 living expenses each until the injunction orders return to court on June 27, plus legal and perhaps some domestic expenses subject to formal approval by the court.

Irish Bank Resolution Corporation, formerly Anglo Irish Bank, secured interim freezing orders last week in an effort to protect up to €400m of assets in the Quinn’s international property group (IPG).

Yesterday, Bill Shipsey, for the Quinn side, neither consented to nor opposed the injunctions continuing but indicated his clients would dispute the bank’s entitlement to those freezing orders at a hearing likely to be held next month.

Mr Shipsey also said his clients may seek additional funds to meet pressing domestic expenses and they had legal expenses in various jurisdictions, including Russia and Ukraine.

Brian Murray, counsel for the bank, said it was only prepared at this stage to consent to fees to lawyers in Cyprus for the Quinn side for the purpose of addressing the bank’s forthcoming application to discharge an order referring to the European Court of Justice a jurisdictional issue in Cypriot proceedings brought by the Quinns.

Counsel indicated the bank would be reluctant to approve payments of other international lawyers engaged by the Quinns but it would address that and other issues in correspondence with the Quinns lawyers.

Mr Justice Peter Kelly continued to June 27 the orders freezing assets owned or controlled worldwide by the five children — Aoife, Ciara, Colette, Brenda and Sen Jr; Mr Quinn’s nephew Peter Darragh Quinn and two sons-in-law — Stephen Kelly and Niall McPartland — and several companies, below €50m each except for living expenses of €2,000.

He said any application to vary those orders to meet particular expenses, even where the variation was consented to by the bank, would have to be mentioned to the court and formally approved.

He adjourned for a week IBRC’s application to transfer to the Commercial Court the proceedings against the Quinn defendants and several companies based in Belize, Panama, Russia, and the United Arab Emirates. The bank claims the companies have co-operated with the Quinns in stripping assets from the IPG. Only a receiver representing one of the companies was in court yesterday.

The judge said he would give the Quinn side an opportunity to outline its opposition to transfer and would deal with that next Wednesday as well as the application to further continue the freezing orders until the issue of the bank’s entitlement to those freezing orders is decided.