IBRC gets € 121m in judgment against Sean Quinn's businesswoman

Irish Bank Resolution Corporation (IBRC) has obtained a € 121 million judgment against Patricia Quinn, wife of businessman Sean Quinn.

The ruling means that Ms. Quinn, who was declared bankrupt in 2011 at the request of the IBRC, will no longer be involved in the actions of her family members who deny responsibility for some $ 1.24 billion Euro loans made by former Anglo Irish Bank, the predecessor of the IBRC in title, to various Quinn companies.

Ms. Quinn's five adult children continue in this case, hired in 2011 and scheduled to be heard next March.

The judgment of 121 million euros, including interest, was linked to a guarantee and compensation provided by Ms. Quinn in October 2008, guaranteeing repayment of a credit of 100 461 euros granted to a Cypriot company, Morboneto Holdings Ltd.

The motion for judgment, to which Ms. Quinn or her official badignee did not contest the claim, was granted earlier this week before the Commercial Court by Judge Robert Haughton.

Since Ms. Quinn's complaint in the family case against IBRC was only related to the Morbonet guarantee, her complaint would no longer be processed.

Separately this week, Judge Haughton has ordered that two men suspected to be directors and / or managers of companies based in the United Arab Emirates be sentenced to a term of imprisonment for "serious" contempt if they do not comply in a few days with some orders to prevent alleged breakup of business badets of Quinn family.

The judge also ordered Wednesday the sequestration of property of the UAE companies.

The IBRC solicited these orders as part of its own marathon proceedings against various members of the Quinn family and corporations alleging a conspiracy to place several million badets in the international family real estate group out of reach of the family. bank.

Initiated in 2011, the IBRC case, called conspiracy case, will be heard after the family case.

In the last pre-trial application in the conspiracy case, the IBRC alleged contempt of various companies by three companies – Mecon FZE, Yangtze Consulting FZC and Senat Legal Consulting FZ LLC – and by two individuals, Michael Waechter, a Swiss national whose seat is presumed. in the United Arab Emirates, and Willem Smit, a Dutch national who is also based in the UAE, as chairpersons and / or managers of some of these companies.

The two men would be officers of Mecon and Senat Legal, and Mr. Waechter would also be an officer of the Yangtze.

The respondents did not appear at the hearing of the contempt motion.

In an affidavit, Kieran Wallace, the IBRC's special liquidator, stated that the defendants were disregarding the breach of the disclosure obligations set out in the orders issued by the High Court of Justice of Ireland in 2012 and 2018.

There has been a deliberate retention of documents and information that must exist and should have been provided, he said.

With the exception of Mr Smit, who is not a party to the main conspiracy case, the defendants seek to ignore the fact that their conspiracy complaint amounts to more than 500 million euros, he said. declared.

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The so-called badet dismemberment plan is "unprecedented in its complexity and in terms of loss to the IBRC".

Mr. Wallace also alleged the lack of cooperation with Cathal McCarthy, a court-appointed receiver in February, over shares held by Mecon in an Indian company, Mack Soft.

Haughton J. found that the respondents had committed a serious contempt.

In the case of Mecon, there was a "blatant" outrage with regard to his involvement in the prosecution in India against the escrow, he said.

An Indian district court quashed the ex parte injunctions (only one party represented) against the escrow after finding that Mecon had appeared in court with "impure hands," he said.

Mecon's actions were a "scandalous attack" against an Irish court official, he said.

Smit and Waechter ordered Mr. Smit and Mr. Waechter incarcerated, but suspended their decision until December 4 to give more time to comply with orders requiring the receiver to be formally authorized under the Indian Companies Act as the representative of Mecon FZE of Mecon with respect to the shares of Mack Soft.

If there is full compliance, a continuous stay will apply and it will be open to request that this be lifted, said the judge.

Given the seriousness of contempt, the judge announced that he was also ordering the sequestration of Mecon FZE badets, Yangtze Consulting LZE and Senat Legal Consulting FZ LLC.