Senat denies orchestrating Quinn asset moves

AN INTERNATIONAL law and wealth management group, Senat, has said it is not the “mastermind” behind the effort by the Quinn family to asset-strip an international portfolio of property assets.

The Irish Bank Resolution Corporation (IBRC) has said Senat, and its principal Michael Waechter, is orchestrating the Quinns’ campaign to frustrate the bank.

Contacted by The Irish Times, Mr Waechter issued a statement on behalf of Senat FZC and Senat Legal. It said members of the Quinn family were introduced to Senat in June 2011 by one of its business contacts.

Senat FZC “got several companies for third parties incorporated on the request of the Quinn family. We believe that some of these companies were engaged in business transactions that were later questioned in Irish court procedures.

“However, we would like to clarify that Senat FZC was neither involved in these transactions nor did Senat FZC ‘mastermind’ these transactions.”

Its role was limited to incorporation of the companies, it said.

Courts in Ireland have heard of multimillion-euro assets being moved to companies in Belize and the British Virgin Islands, which IBRC believes are acting on behalf of the family. The family has said it does not control the companies.

In its statement, Senat, which has offices in Liechtenstein, Dubai, Switzerland and Austria, said there have been rumours that Senat Legal has been engaged by the Quinn family to co-ordinate [matters] on their behalf in Russia.

“We would like to place on record that Senat Legal Consultancy FZ LLC has only been engaged to co-ordinate the legal activities in Ireland, India and Cyprus, which are some jurisdictions where the Quinn family is involved in legal proceedings.”

Senat said it was mainly responsible for securing the flow of information between lawyers active in the various jurisdictions and to approve the payment of legal fees.

“Senat Legal did not give legal advice and was not involved in defining defence strategies in these jurisdictions.

“The role of the two Senat companies has been wrongly interpreted in the Irish contempt of court proceedings against some members of the Quinn family”.