Mountjoy jailing strengthens Quinn resolve

Bankrupt businessman Seán Quinn has said his spell in Mountjoy has made him more determined to continue his fight in the courts against the remains of Anglo Irish Bank.

He said while he was in prison for being in contempt of court, a bank he believed perpetrated fraud against him was continuing to pursue his family.

Mr Quinn said for this reason he feels his children have been the greatestvictim of Anglo’s actions towards him and he wants the people involved to be held accountable.

“Life in jail made me more determined. I had a good life, but I found it incredible that Anglo was involved in fraud, that the Quinn family were the greatest victims of that fraud, were the biggest losers in Ireland and Europe because of that fraud, and yet the guys who were the victims and lost the most money finished up in jail.

“The boys responsible for that fraud were swanning about in big cars while I was in jail,” he said.

Mr Quinn gave a detailed interview to the Impartial Reporter newspaper, though it took place before the release of the recorded conversations between Anglo executives.

Mr Quinn, who used to be wealthier than anyone in the country but had secretly gambled heavily on the success of Anglo Irish Bank, blamed misinformation on his actions.

He said building up this stake, by diverting money from his insurance business, was wrong and he has apologised to his children for it.

“I should never have bought the shares in Anglo, I should never have taken money from Quinn Direct to buy or support shares. I should not have done what I done. I got carried away, wrongly.

“I was far too influenced about all the reports I got and I made a fundamental mistake. But at the end of the day it was based on fraudulent information. Why blame the family? Why blame the kids for that?”

Mr Quinn said that the Government had known about the trouble Anglo was in and did not act when it could have.

He said he felt there were documents his family has requested, under data protection legislation and the Freedom of Information Act, which had not been released to him.

He said these should be released and an inquiry should be held into the actions of the now liquidated bank.