Seán Quinn jnr has lost his Supreme Court appeal by a four to one majority against a High Court's decision jailing him almost three months ago for contempt of orders restraining the stripping of multi-million property assets.
The majority Supreme Court ruled today that Quinn jnr was properly jailed for a three month period, which is due to expire on Friday next.
It also indicated the former Anglo Irish Bank could reapply to the High Court to jail him for a longer period on foot of the finding he had acted in contempt of court orders via his involvement in the making of a US$500,000 payment to the general director of Quinn Properties Ukraine.
The majority court found, while the High Court was entitled to jail Quinn jnr for three months on foot of the contempt finding in relation to the Puga payment, it was not entitled to make some 28 coercive orders against him restraining several other asset stripping measures. His lawyers had argued there was no evidence that Quinn jnr was involved in the other measures.
The Chief Justice, Ms Justice Susan Denham, Mr Justice Nial Fennelly, Mr Justice Donal O'Donnell and Mr Justice Liam McKechnie constituted the majority court while Mr Justice Adrian Hardiman dissented and said he would have allowed Quinn jnr's appeal in its entirety.
Quinn jnr was jailed on July 20th by Ms Justice Elizabeth Dunne following her findings that he acted in contempt of court orders restraining stripping of up to $430m assets from the Quinn family's international property group and also failed to reverse a series of asset-stripping steps.
The four-day appeal hearing concluded last week and the matter was listed today for ruling in the Supreme Court. The court will give the full reasons for its decision in a written judgment later.
Lawyers for Quinn jnr applied to the Supreme Court yesterday for an order directing that he could attend the court this morning for the ruling. He was in court today with his wife Karen Woods and sisters Colette and Aoife and brothers in law Niall McPartland and Stephen Kelly.
Irish Bank Resolution Corporation chief executive Mike Aynsley was also in court with Richard Woodhouse of IBRC, which is pursuing the Quinn family over loans totalling some €2.8 billion.
During the appeal, Quinn jnr's lawyers argued that IBRC, the former Anglo Irish Bank, had failed to outline exactly what he was being held in prison for and had conceded there was "no direct evidence" to support the finding of contempt against him.
The bank contended "a chain of events" and 30 pieces of circumstantial evidence supported the High Court's "common sense" finding Quinn jnr participated in a US$500,000 payment on foot of which he was found in contempt.
Quinn jnr attended all four days of the appeal and returned to Mountjoy Prison last Wednesday when the appeal concluded.
Last June, Ms Justice Dunne ruled he was in contempt of court orders of June and July 2011 restraining stripping of assets on the basis of his participation in a US$500,000 payment to Larissa Puga, general director of Quinn Properties Ukraine, on the eve of that company's takeover by the bank in August 2011.
The judge later made 30 coercive orders aimed at unwinding asset-stripping measures and, after finding Seán Quinn jnr, his father and cousin Peter failed to comply with those, she jailed Quinn jnr and Peter Quinn. She did not jail Seán Quinn snr in order to allow him to take steps to achieve compliance.
Peter Quinn did not attend court on July 20th and a warrant for his arrest remains unexecuted while he continues to live in Northern Ireland. All three Quinns said they could not reverse the asset-stripping on grounds including matters had passed out of their control to Russian lawyers and others.
The contempt matter is due for review by Ms Justice Dunne on Friday.
