Courts / Ireland / Report

Former Quinn Insurance directors seek to halt Central Bank inquiry

Summary

Two former executives of Quinn Insurance Limited, Liam McCaffrey and Kevin Lunny, have initiated High Court proceedings to prevent the Central Bank from conducting an inquiry into alleged regulatory breaches by former management of the company, which was placed into administration in 2010. The judicial review proceedings, brought against the Central Bank, Ireland, and the Attorney General, argue that the inquiry breaches constitutional rights, including the right to a fair process and the right to a trial under Article 38 of the Constitution. The claimants seek an injunction to halt the inquiry until a constitutional challenge, under Part III C of the 1942 Central Bank Act, is resolved. The inquiry, scheduled to begin in April, is alleged to encroach on judicial powers reserved for the courts and to be unconstitutional. Permission for the judicial review was granted on an ex-parte basis by Mr Justice Richard Humphreys, with the matter to be returned to court later this week. In 2013, the Central Bank fined Quinn Insurance €5m for failing to maintain adequate solvency margins and having insufficient internal controls between October 2005 and March 2010, though the fine was waived due to the firm's administration. The inquiry follows an investigation that found reasonable grounds to suspect that certain former Quinn Insurance managers may have participated in a suspected contravention of EU non-life insurance regulations.

Who, what, where, when and why

What: Report matter: Former Quinn Insurance directors seek to halt Central Bank inquiry. Procedural stage: sentence

When:

• October 2005 Other
• March 2010 Other
• 2016-03-14 Publication

Why: The fine was waived because the firm was in administration. CNI source report

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Read the original CNI report