The High Court refused a court-appointed receiver’s requests to change how living expenses were funded under an asset-freezing order, but directed that the personal defendants’ salaries be paid into the receiver account pending a further hearing.
Mr Justice Brian J. McGovern delivered the ruling on 21 June 2016 in proceedings brought by Irish Bank Resolution Corporation Limited, Quinn Investments Sweden AB and Leif Baecklund against Seán Quinn and other named defendants. The receiver sought to vary earlier orders made under a Mareva injunction, which the parties agreed was intended to preserve assets rather than punish the defendants.
The receiver asked the court to require living expenses to be drawn from the defendants’ excluded bank accounts, prevent withdrawals from the receiver account until those balances were spent, and direct that any proceeds from a sale of Karen Woods’s Jeffries shareholding be paid into the receiver account. The court refused all three requests. It said the existing orders provided for living expenses to be paid from the receiver account, and Woods’s shareholding had already been excluded from the injunction, subject to information requirements.
The application followed notice that Seán Quinn Jr. had received a monthly salary of €2,347 from SMC Products Limited. The judgment said the personal defendants, apart from Ciara Quinn, appeared to be employed by SMC; Quinn was employed part-time as an agency nurse with no fixed salary. The receiver argued the salaries should be captured by the injunction. The defendants’ excluded accounts held balances ranging from €1,010 to €82,935, according to an affidavit cited in the judgment.
The judge said earlier orders appeared to contemplate excluding earnings unrelated to the proceedings or International Property Group from the receiver’s powers. However, he made no finding on whether these salaries qualified, because the issue was due to be argued more fully at a separate motion listed for 26 July 2016.
The court ordered the personal defendants to provide updated statements of means covering assets, liabilities, monthly income and monthly expenditure above €750. The judge said the frequency of those statements remained to be heard before the order was finalised. Pending further order, salaries were to be paid into the receiver account as sums then captured by the injunction. The arrangement and other issues could be reviewed at the July hearing.