Sean Quinn Jnr to sell home to purge contempt of court

The sale of Sean Quinn junior's Dublin home for between €400,000 and €440,000 in the next four weeks will finally purge contempt of court orders against him, a judge said today.

Ms Justice Elizabeth Dunne said once the sale of the house at Alder Lodge, Castleknock, is completed, that will be the end of the contempt proceedings against Mr Quinn who shares the house with his wife Karen Woods.

Mr Quinn's half of the proceeds will go to Irish Bank Resolution Corporation (IBRC) which brought contempt proceedings against him over a High Court finding he participated in a US$500,000 payment to the general director of Quinn Properties Ukraine (QPU), Larissa Puga, on the eve of IBRC'S takeover of QPU.

He was jailed for three months for contempt but he was still required to take steps to repay the money involved in order to fully purge his contempt.

To do so, he offered to sell the Dublin house and today his counsel Martin Hayden said Mr Quinn had received two valuations from auctioneers of €400,000 and €440,000.

A buyer has made an offer in which Mr Quinn’s 50 per cent share can be paid as directed by the court, counsel said.

Ms Justice Dunne said this went some way towards meeting the requirement for Mr Quinn to purge his contempt. While it was not the full amount, it was the best that can be done under the circumstances, she said.

Once the sale is complete, the matter should come back before her in December for the court to direct what should be done with the money received, she said.

When this is done, she said, “that will be the end of the matter as far as Sean Quinn junior is concerned,” she said.

In July last year, when the judge jailed him fo contempt, she also issued a warrant for the arrest for his cousin Peter Darragh Quinn, for him to also serve a three month sentence for contempt.

That warrant remains unexecuted as he is believed to living in Northern Ireland.