Quinn contracts ‘would have netted them €36m each’

Seán Quinn’s family had employment contracts with Russian companies providing for multimillion termination payouts, including €26m for his nephew, Peter Darragh Quinn, and almost €15m for his son, Seán Jr, it has been claimed.

The Russian contracts also provided for €36m each for the bankrupt businessman’s daughters Aoife, Ciara, and Colette Quinn, the former Anglo Irish Bank has contended.

The existence of the alleged contracts with payouts in the event of termination was found on a damaged computer in Russia and is revealed in an affidavit to the Supreme Court, where Mr Quinn Jr is appealing against his conviction and imprisonment for contempt of court.

Irish Bank Resolution Corporation (IBRC), formerly Anglo, wants the material to be considered in the appeal case.

Under contracts dated Jun 15, 2011, with additions of Jul 26, 2011, Mr Quinn Jr’s wife Karen Woods — then his fiancée — was also to receive termination payments of more than €36m and an annual salary of about €560,000, the bank has also alleged.

Niall McPartland, husband of Ciara Quinn, had contracts for similar sums, it is claimed.

Some of the contracts were backdated to make it appear they were signed before a court order was made on Jun 27 last year restraining the stripping of assets from the Quinns’ international property group, the bank has also alleged.

IBRC says this and other new evidence shows Mr Quinn Jr was a “key decision-maker” in relation to management and control of Russian and other international companies at the centre of alleged asset-stripping measures.

Mr Quinn Jr’s own Russian employment contracts provided for termination payments totalling almost €15m and an annual salary from one company of about €148,000, it is alleged.

An undated labour contract for Peter Darragh Quinn provided for an annual salary of €221,947 and a termination payment of 1.08bn roubles (€26.6m), it is claimed.

A further labour contract for Peter Darragh Quinn dated Jun 24, 2011, provided a similar annual salary and termination payment.

The Quinn daughters, Aoife, Ciara, and Colette, had various contracts all dated Jun 15, 2011, with three Russian companies — Finansstroy, Logistika, and Red Sector — providing for termination payments of €36m each and annual salaries from all three companies of about €560,000 all dated Jun 15, 2011, it is alleged.

When the administrator took possession of the Kutuzoff Tower in Moscow, owned by Finansstroy and the most valuable property in the Quinns’ international property group, the computer server and software were seriously damaged and it was clear many documents were removed immediately before he took possession of the building, the bank said.

In an affidavit, Richard Woodhouse of IBRC said the new documents span the period Jul 2011 to Aug 31, 2012, and showed the extent to which Seán Quinn Jr exercised day-to-day control until he was jailed last July over companies in the property group, despite his claims to the contrary.