Attempt to oust yoga guru from oil firm's board begins

LEGAL PROCEEDINGS aimed at removing yoga guru Tony Quinn from his role as a director of a Central American oil company have opened in the Caribbean island of Nevis.

The case is being taken by Paul Marriott, a founding director of International Natural Energy, which has earned hundreds of millions of euro in revenues since it struck oil in Belize in 2005.

Mr Quinn was subsequently made a director of the company but his role is being challenged by Mr Marriott, who alleges he has been squeezed out of the company. It is incorporated in Nevis, an offshore tax haven.

Mr Marriott is seeking unspecified damages from the company, Mr Quinn and company chairwoman Susan Morrice.

Mr Marriott wants the court to require the defendants to buy out his shareholding in the company and is seeking to have a receiver appointed pending resolution of his claim, as well as having the appointment of Mr Quinn declared null and void.

His case before the Eastern Caribbean supreme court represents the latest bout of feuding within the company since it discovered massive reserves of crude oil.

Another former director, Jean Cornec, is taking legal action seeking millions of euro he claims are owed to him after he sold his shareholding.

International Natural Energy was founded by two women from Northern Ireland, Ms Morrice and Sheila McCaffrey, along with Mr Marriott, Mr Cornec and Mike Usher, who has since died.

Most of its 400 shareholders are Irish people who at one time attended one of Mr Quinn’s “Educo Mind Power” seminars. Mr Quinn was invited to join the board two years after oil was discovered.

While most shareholders remain loyal to Mr Quinn, a minority have expressed frustration at the lack of financial information from the company and its failure to pay a dividend since oil started flowing.

International Natural Energy earns up to $100 million in oil revenues each year, but says it has had to borrow heavily to fund further exploration and is prevented by its banks from paying a dividend.

In December 2009, it released $9 million in loans to shareholders who were “in good standing” with the company. However, Ms Morrice has told shareholders the release of further loans has been threatened by Mr Marriott’s legal action.

She described Mr Marriott’s claim as “wholly without merit” and part of an orchestrated campaign against the firm, and said he resigned “of his own accord”.

Mr Marriott’s case, which opened before Christmas, is set to resume next week.