Recording shows ‘torrid’ money row

A secret recording of a meeting in Ukraine attended by Seán Quinn Jr, his cousin Peter, and some Ukranians, showed a “torrid row” about money, the Supreme Court heard yesterday.

His lawyer argued it made clear the Quinns cannot reverse a $500,000 payment under which Seán Quinn Jr was jailed.

The $500,000 (€387,000) payment was allegedly made to Larissa Puga, general director of Quinn Properties Ukraine, and the video made clear, whatever relations previously existed between the Quinns and Ms Puga, they were “at daggers drawn” on Jan 21, 2012, when the meeting was recorded, Brian O’Moore SC said.

His client cannot be left languish in jail indefinitely over failure to reverse that and other alleged transactions stripping assets from the Quinn family’s international property group which he could not reverse, counsel urged.

Even if the inability to reverse was the result of his client’s own actions, which was denied, that could not be a basis for keeping him in prison, he said.

The flaws in the jailing order were not technical, counsel argued. The effect was Seán Quinn Jr unlawfully remained in jail indefinitely until he purged his contempt by complying with 30 coercive orders to reverse other asset-stripping transactions which involved no allegation against him and which he simply could not reverse.

It was not permissible to jail his client for failure to comply with 30 other orders when he was found in contempt on one issue only — the Puga payment, counsel said. Nor could he be jailed on the basis of a view he was part of an overall strategy by his family to put multi-million assets beyond the reach of the bank.

He was making submissions on the second day of Seán Quinn Jr’s appeal against a High Court ruling he was in contempt of orders restraining asset-stripping on grounds he participated in the payment to Ms Puga around late Aug 2011, just as QPU was about to be taken over by Irish Bank Resolution Corporation, formerly Anglo Irish, which claims to be owed €2.8bn by Quinn companies.

Mr O’Moore said the video recording of the Ukranian meeting made clear his client could not reverse the $500,000 payment. The Quinns owned just 15% of QPU, with the rest owned by their neighbours and relatives, he said.

It was clear the recording was by an unknown person hostile to the Quinns and they objected to it being viewed by the High Court on grounds it was only a 15-minute record of the hour-long meeting in Jan 2012 and was not proven in evidence. However, the DVD was admitted.

That objection was not being pursued in the appeal as they could not “unscramble the omelette” and because the DVD supported Seán Quinn Jr’s description of that meeting as “hostile”, counsel said.

The High Court erred in finding his client participated in the payment to Ms Puga as there was no evidence to support that finding, he argued.

The DVD, published in the Mail on Sunday last July, showed the two Quinns arguing with Ms Puga and two unidentified men about money, he said. The High Court had wrongly found the DVD did not support his client’s claims of a collapse in relations with Ms Puga.

Seán Quinn Jr, detained in the Training Unit of Mountjoy Prison since July 20 last, was in court yesterday with his wife Karen, brother-in-law, Niall McPartland, and some supporters.

The appeal continues today.