IBRC secures Quinns' former Moscow income of €15.5m

CONTROL OF rental income of approximately $20 million (€15.5 million) a year from a Moscow building formerly owned by Seán Quinn’s family has been secured for the Irish Bank Resolution Corporation (IBRC), but further income of up to $15 million (€11.6 million) a year continues to elude the State-owned bank.

An administrator acting for the bank’s interest has managed to get charge of the Kutuzoff Tower in Moscow and is now seeking to establish what happened to rent of approximately $30 million in the period since the bank’s relationship with the Quinns broke down in April 2010.

The bank has not yet managed to assert control over the Ukrania shopping mall in Kiev, Ukraine, or the 750,000sq ft Q Tower in Hyderabad, India.

The buildings form part of an international property portfolio worth approximately €500 million owned by the Quinns and against which Anglo Irish Bank was given security in return for huge loans issued to the family.

Anglo is now part of the IBRC.

In June and July last year, the High Court in Dublin ordered the family to desist in its efforts to put the assets beyond the bank’s reach.

Earlier this year Ms Justice Elizabeth Dunne found that Seán Quinn, his son Seán jnr, and his nephew, Peter Darragh Quinn, had acted in contempt of this order. Seán Quinn jnr was sent to jail, where he remains. There is a warrant out for Peter Darragh Quinn, who is believed to be in Northern Ireland.

The bank asked that Mr Quinn snr not be jailed so he might assist the bank recover some of the assets.

The courts reopen for the new law term on Monday and a number of hearings in relation to the Quinns are scheduled over the coming weeks.

The bank is seeking to establish the whereabouts of $4.5 million in accumulated rent that was moved from a Quinn family company account in Moscow last year, to an account in a new bank also in the company’s name. It is understood the money is no longer in that second account.

The administrator acting for the bank in Moscow has encountered difficulties in accessing the management records of the company that operates the commercial tower for the period up to his appointment.

The bank is also investigating an €11 million loan that was issued by a bank in India in January against the future income of the Q Tower.

This money is believed to be under the control of a company in the United Arab Emirates.

The bank believes that family members, with seemingly no involvement in the running of the Russian company, were put on its payroll and received $4.3 million gross as a result.

The family could not be contacted for comment last night.

The bank would make no comment.