Son-in-law of Quinn chased over €6m debt

A SON-IN-LAW of bankrupt businessman Seán Quinn is being pursued for debts of more than €6 million arising from investments in Anglo Irish Bank shares.

The Commercial Court is to hear an application today in a case where Quinn Finance is claiming solicitor Niall McPartland, husband of Ciara Quinn, owes more than €6 million arising from margin calls on contracts for difference investments in Anglo shares.

Contracts for difference allow investors to take a position on a share without actually owning it and by only paying down a deposit on the share. Margin calls arise if the share loses value.

The courts service website indicates Mr McPartland has yet to file an affidavit in the case. A spokesman for the Quinn family had no comment to make on the matter yesterday. Likewise, a spokesman for Irish Bank Resolution Corporation (IBRC), which now incorporates Anglo Irish Bank, had no comment to make on the matter.

Last year Anglo appointed a share receiver to the Quinn Group, including Quinn Finance, arising out of unpaid debts due from the Quinn family.

The case against Mr McPartland is listed before Mr Justice Peter Kelly in the Commercial Court.

IBRC is involved in a wide series of court actions against Mr Quinn and his five adult children in relation to Anglo loans of €2.9 billion which the bank says it is owed but which the family are saying are “tainted with illegality”.

Some of the loans are associated with Mr Quinn’s disastrous investment in Anglo shares by way of high-risk contracts for difference and the subsequent effort by the family and the bank to deal with the fallout when the share price began to plummet.

Mr Quinn and the Quinn Group were at one and the same time the bank’s biggest customer, while also holding more than a quarter of the bank’s shares by way of contracts for difference.

Mr Quinn, his son Seán and his nephew Peter Darragh Quinn are awaiting a court ruling in a case where the IBRC is urging the court to find them guilty of contempt.