County holds its breath for Quinns

THE entire county held its collective breath on Friday last as Sean Quinn, his son, Sean and his nephew, Peter, having already been found guilty of contempt of court for moving assets abroad, appeared in Dublin’s High Court for sentencing, with jail a very real possibility.

The judge, Ms Justice Dunne had warned the Quinns to expect ‘punitive’ as well as ‘coercive’ sentences for hiding €416m worth of assets abroad after last year’s ‘don’t touch’ deadline sought  by Anglo-Irish Bank and agreed to by the courts.  These are mainly properties and the rent therefrom in Russia, Turkey, Ukraine and India.

The judge, Ms Justice Dunne gave the three Quinns until 20th July to comply with court orders requiring them to start helping Anglo to get hold of the Quinns’ foreign assets and rent rolls for the Irish taxpayer. She refused an application by their defence  counsel for more time.

However, back in his native Fermanagh, reaction was, for the main part, sympathetic.