Formerly Ireland’s richest man, Sean Quinn has said he fears the thought of going to prison, but that he would not shy away from it should the time come.
BBC News reports on Ireland’s most famous businessman who could be facing jail time. Quinn’s son is currently behind bars and his nephew has a warrant out for his arrest after failing to adhere to a court order that prohibited them from placing €500 million of overseas property assets beyond the reach of the Irish Bank Resolution Corporation.
Quinn said "I believe we have been made scapegoats from day one and Anglo has used this situation."
Speaking with Shannonside Radio, Quinn said: "This is the best thing that ever happened to Anglo because for two or three years prior to the Quinn situation coming up, they were the most hated company in the history of the state.”
"Now all of a sudden, they're [Anglo] being seen as the good boys and claiming taxpayers' money back from the Quinns while getting the limelight taken away from them.”
"I feel it's an extraordinary situation because if you were to go a little bit further down the line, Anglo are the greatest losers in the history of the state. The worst company in the history of the state is owning and managing one of the best ones."
"They are doing everything in their power to destroy us and they've done a damn good job of it."
Quinn’s son Sean Jr has begun his prison sentence, while his nephew Peter Darragh Quinn, who failed to appear for his sentencing, has a warrant out for his arrest. The High Court in Dublin is set to hear an appeal from Sean Jr in October.
Sean Quinn Sr said that while his nephew Peter appeared to have a desperate fear of prison, that he himself wouldn’t shy away from a sentencing should it be necessary.
Quinn explained, "If you've been running a business for 38 years, you're approaching your 66th birthday, you've never owed a man a penny or done anyone any grievance in your life, and you feel hard done-by and try to protect yourself and your family, but go to prison, well if that's the society we're living in, I'm happy to accept that.”
"Do I think it's wrong? Am I afraid of it? Yes I am. Will I back off it? Will I lose my pride? I won't.”
"I was never one to run away from trouble - I intend to continue to fight my corner and try to redeem our reputation in some way," he said.
"It's very difficult when you see the PR campaign that Anglo have built up against us. A lot of the media would be very anti-Quinn and have fallen hook, line and sinker for the Anglo story where they are the good guys.”
"If Anglo feels it hasn't done enough damage to me already by taking my money, my company, my reputation, if they want to finish it off by putting me in prison, then so be it - I'll accept that."
"It's difficult to turn that but I hope the public are able to get the proper story in time."
5 Comments
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Switch to the desktop site to post a comment.IrelandNorth | Jul 30, 2012, 08:34 AM EDT
Met a young-ish heavy metal couple from Enniskillen on the bus to Donegal a few years ago, returning from a rock concert in Fairyhouse Racecourse in Kildare. Spoke very highly of Sean Quinn and family. Someone once told me reason Travellers don't wear glasses is because they won't. Seems as cissy-ish in macho Traveller culture. Or they grow old enough to need them, due to high infant mortality rate. I expect that Sean Quinn and family were seduced into borrowing money from credit-pushing banksters who exploited deeply ingrained native Irish famine-phobia. Can we anticipate a campaign to "Release the Maple 10!"
seamus60 | Jul 29, 2012, 05:36 PM EDT
Getting an ex employee of Sean Quinns with a single bad word on him would be harder than finding a traveller wearing glass`s. Lets see how long till his thousands of employees turn into a sad workforce. They stripped him of a thriving business that would have paid the lot back long term, but he still would have owned it. Can`t have the wee man starting off with £100 getting too big for his boots.
angrypaddy | Jul 29, 2012, 04:13 AM EDT
Sean Quinn is a schyster who borrowed billions from the bank,the only thing the fool didnt understand was that he had to pay it back.That will tell you how stupit he and the banks are for lending him the money
Searlit | Jul 28, 2012, 04:10 PM EDT
It does seem the family is being used as the fall guys for the whole financial collapse. I don't know the whole story about the Quinns. He seems like a decent person. What about that one that took off over to the US. He seems to have gotten off lightly. He always had a sneer on his face, in the photos.
irishpjk | Jul 28, 2012, 03:50 PM EDT
wtf From what I learned from the people I know in the Mid-lands, Sean Quinn was a hard working businessman running a thriving company. The government used Anglos problems as an excuse to get involved in Quinn’s company. Reminds me of when Ronald Regan said the most fearsome words you can hear are, I am from the government and I am here to help. The business is ruined plenty of people are out of work because of that and people are beating their chests and saying we saved you. I just don’t know what they saved us from, or who will save us from big government.