Colette Quinn, a daughter of jailed businessman Seán Quinn, withdrew sums totalling €16,000 from the accounts of a Russian company on the day a court order was sought to freeze the assets of some members of the Quinn family below €50 million, the Commercial Court was told yesterday.

The withdrawals were made on June 14th last, the day Irish Bank Resolution Corporation (IBRC) applied without notice to the Quinns for orders freezing their accounts, the court heard. Reporting restrictions applied on that application until after the four-hour hearing concluded and the making of the orders freezing the accounts below €50 million save for living expenses of €2,000 each.

The sums totalling about €16,000 appeared to have been taken out via multiple withdrawals from ATMs in Cavan, Shane Murphy SC, for IBRC, outlined.

Mr Murphy yesterday applied to Mr Justice Peter Kelly for orders allowing the bank cross-examine the five Quinn children and three of their spouses – Stephen Kelly, Niall McPartland and Karen Woods – concerning their assets and bank accounts.

The hearing continues today.

Inadequate disclosure

In a lengthy affidavit, Richard Woodhouse of IBRC outlined material which had emerged since the bank secured orders in June and July 2011 restraining stripping of assets from IPG companies. The bank wanted cross-examination because the Quinn disclosure was wholly inadequate and the defendants had maintained a consistent strategy of withholding information, he said.

The bank believed there was inadequate disclosure relating to control by Quinn family members of the IPG companies and off-shore or other companies to which assets were transferred, he said. It also believed assets and bank accounts had not been disclosed. Documents relating to salaries the defendants obtained from IPG companies in 2011 and 2012 were also sought, plus related bank statements and documents related to payments to the Quinns’ legal advisers.

Among the bank’s concerns were various cash-extraction mechanisms including the use of “grey companies” where it was not possible to discern ownership from publicly available information, he said. Some €16.5 million was extracted that way from 2011 to August 2012, he said.

Russian accounts

Opposing cross-examination, the Quinns contend they have disclosed the material and documents available to them but cannot yet disclose certain other documents in possession of their previous lawyers, Eversheds, due to issues relating to payment of legal fees.

In her affidavit, Aoife Quinn said her Ocean Bank (OB) Moscow balance as of November 21st last was some €211,679, her husband Stephen Kelly said he previously disclosed an OB balance of 30,000 roubles (€750) and Colette Quinn said her OB balance was approximately €12,500.

In her affidavit, Brenda Quinn said she has had no involvement whatsoever with IPG companies and never received a salary or any other payment from any IPG company.

Seán Quinn jnr, on his affidavit, agreed he had been in email contact with employees of Russian IPG companies but said he was not now, and had never been, in control of IPG assets.

All the respondents deny the bank’s claims they remain in control of IPG companies and insist they do not know the whereabouts of rental incomes from those companies. They also denied claims their daily expenses were paid by companies in the IPG.