Quinns had ‘assassination insurance’ in contract

Russian employment contracts for members of bankrupt businessman Seán Quinn’s family provided for €7.5m payments if they were injured or there was an assassination attempt on them while on “official duties” for the companies, it has emerged.

Members of the Quinn family travelled to Moscow to sign the employment contracts entitling them to “huge” termination payouts of up to €36m each just days after the High Court made orders restraining the stripping of assets from those and other companies, the Supreme Court has heard.

According to emails recently obtained from a “deliberately smashed” computer in the premises of one of the Russian companies, the contracts provided for payments up to 300m roubles — about €7.5m — if the Quinns were injured or disabled or there was an “assassination attempt” on them while on “official duties” for the companies.

The contracts provided for employment termination payouts ranging from €15m to €36m each, plus substantial annual wages up to €560,000 each and a wide range of benefits.

Arrangements to draft and sign the contracts were made by family members days before and on the eve of a Jul 20, 2011, High Court application by Irish Bank Resolution Corporation, formerly Anglo Irish Bank, for orders restraining the stripping of assets worth up to €430m from companies in the family’s international property group.

Other emails showed Seán Quinn Jr dealing with property management issues for Russian companies earlier this year, months after the Quinns told the High Court they had lost control of those companies, Paul Gallagher, counsel for IBRC, said yesterday.

The emails were obtained by the administrator appointed by the bank to one Russian company, Finansstroy, and showed the Quinns had given “utterly false” evidence in the High Court contempt proceedings about not being in control of the firms, he said.

These and other matters should persuade the Supreme Court to uphold a finding Seán Quinn Jr was lawfully jailed on Jul 20 for contempt of orders made by the High Court in Jun and Jul 2011 restraining stripping of assets so as to place them beyond the reach of IBRC, Mr Gallagher said.

Mr Quinn Jr’s appeal has been adjourned to Wednesday when it is expected to conclude with judgment reserved.