Quinn Jnr Jailed As Cousin Goes On The Run

Sean Quinn Jnr, the only son of Ireland's former richest man Sean Quinn, has begun a three month jail sentence, after being thrown behind bars by a Dublin High Court judge for contempt of court.

An arrest warrant has also been issued for Peter Darragh Quinn, the cement, property and insurance magnate's nephew, after he failed to turn up at a court hearing on Friday last.

Sean Quinn Snr avoided jail because Judge Elizabeth Dunne, while also finding him in contempt of a court order to reverse measures taken by the family to put their property empire beyond the reach of the IBRC (formerly Anglo Irish Bank), gave him more time to comply with her court orders.

The dramatic downfall of Quinn - whose fortune of more than three billion euro made him Ireland's richest man before the economic crash - came as result of a gamble on Anglo Irish Banks shares that went wrong.

It left the Quinn family owing two billion euros to the former Anglo Irish Bank, which is now nationalized and has been pursuing the Quinns for the money in courtrooms around the world.

Last month, Judge Elizabeth Dunne ruled that the men were guilty of putting around €500m out of the reach of Anglo Irish Bank and instructed them to reverse the moves.

On Friday, she said she was less than satisfied with their level of co-operation with her court orders.

Lawyers for the IBRC said they believed that the Quinns had adopted a position that they were willing to go to jail for a short time and keep the €500m of assets.

Brian O'Moore, senior counsel for Quinn Snr, said it was wrong to lock up one member of the family in the hope another would act.

"This almost medieval approach of holding the son to see what the chieftain father will do in terms of freeing the son's liberty is wholly inadequate," he said.

But Judge Dunne rejected his allegation and said that far from being medieval it was a practical way of trying to encourage compliance with orders.

Sean Snr was in court as the judge as his son, Sean Jnr, was jailed for three months.

But his nephew Peter Darragh Quinn, son of former GAA president Peter Quinn, did not turn up for the court hearing, only informing his lawyer at the last minute.

Judge Dunne issued an order for his arrest, adding that there was no evidence to support his claim that he was too ill to turn up in court.

She noted that he had been well enough to sign an affidavit for his lawyer earlier that day.

Gardai continued to search for Peter Darragh Quinn over the weekend, visiting his known addresses in the Republic.

But his main home is in Fermanagh, across the border in Northern Ireland, and Gardai have no powers to arrest him there.

The Police Service of Northern Ireland would only be able to act if a European Arrest Warrant was issued in the case, which has not yet happened and is unusual in non-criminal cases like this one.

Peter Darragh Quinn was not at his home on Saturday when reporters called to it, although neighbors reported seeing some activity at the house earlier in the week.

Sean Quinn Senior was a popular figure in the border region of Ireland, where he created huge amounts of employment in the boom before his Anglo gamble led to his empire going into liquidation.

At the weekend he launched a public relations battle, claiming he and his family were actually victims in the case.

"Ireland today is imprisoning people who have been defrauded of millions by banks whom they have never met or never borrowed a penny from, while the real perpetrators continue to walk free," he said in a statement to RTE on Saturday.

In an interview with the Irish Mail on Sunday he said went further claiming that the bank has a vendetta against him.

"The family has taken steps to fight back, and I fully endorsed their actions," he said,

"They are standing up to the bank that took everything from them. This is what you do with bullies and is what I have always done."

The bank had "treated us like dogs and have tried to put the entire family out on the road," he said.

He said his family had been unfairly criticized by the media in recent and said he was the victim of a sinister agenda.

"Let's not forget, it was the government, Department of Finance and Central Bank that decided to unfairly land the taxpayers of this country with unmitigated losses of Anglo and massive legacy issues that would have been expected when nationalizing a fraudulent bank," he said.

"The Quinn family never borrowed a cent from the taxpayer."

But the Irish government hit back, with Minister of State Brian Hayes arguing that the €500m in disputed assets belong to the Irish people.

"These assets in the Ukraine and elsewhere are assets of the Irish people because they are now under the ownership of the IBRC," he said.

"We are determined that that view is known to the Ukrainian authorities. We are determined that these assets can come under the control of the IBRC so that ultimately they can be given back to the Irish people," he added.

Sean Quinn Snr has signaled his intention to fight the case to the Supreme Court.

Yet he himself remains under the threat of being jailed if he fails to purge his contempt by proving to the court that he has taken measures to repay the money owed.