Quinn family had ‘no role’ in leak of Anglo Tapes

A journalist involved in the publication of the Anglo Tapes has said that the Quinn family had no role to play in the leaking of the material.

Paul Williams of the Irish Independent said neither the Quinn family nor the gardaí were the source of the recordings published this summer.

He said the source was a person, rather than a group, and that individual was prepared to go public at some stage to reveal why he leaked the tapes.

Mr Williams stated “unequivocally” that the Quinn family was not involved and that he was shocked when he read that they were named as a potential source by the special liquidators of IBRC.

A brief released under the Freedom of Information act included a list of potential sources of the recordings leaked to Independent News and Media.

This said it was apparent the material was part of a data-set supplied to members of the Quinn family and their advisors as part of an ongoing legal battle.

“They form part of data sets that are held by or have been provided to the following parties,” the release read. “The bank itself, the Garda Bureau of Fraud Investigation, such other regulatory parties to whom the GBFI might have provided those materials, the participants in the Quinn family litigation, Seán Quinn Snr, Patricia Quinn, Aoife Quinn, Seán Quinn Jnr, Colette Quinn and Brenda Quinn, and related third party proceedings.”

However, Mr Williams told Shannonside FM the family was not the source of the leak.

He said he recently had a pint with Mr Quinn, during which he apologised for any damage the publication of the tapes might have done to the bankrupt billionaire’s case.

This was at an event in Ballinamore, Co Leitrim, where Mr Quinn told the crowd that Mr Williams and the Irish Independent had “done more to expose what went on than all the other media put together”.

Mr Williams said the tapes, both published and unpublished, had exonerated the Quinns and painted those involved in the bank in a bad light.

However, the journalist said that, had the Quinns been the source of the material, it would have been expected that it would have included details directly related to their case.

“If the Quinns did leak the tapes, wouldn’t you think they would leak stuff that would be relevant to them,” he said.