09/11/2012

Arson Attack On Quinn Windfarm

An arson attack has been carried out at Quinn Group premises in Derrylin, County Fermanagh.

The incident occurred yesterday evening between 18:00 and 19:00 when an electrical substation at a windfarm was set on fire.

No-one was injured but the substation is thought to have been severely damaged.

The attack is the latest to be carried out on Quinn Group properties since the company was taken over in 2011.

A fire at group headquarters occurred in January, while in December 2011 a lorry was driven into the same complex.

Sean Quinn has said those responsible were not acting at his behest and he condemned the attacks.

The former billionaire from Fermanagh was once the richest man in Ireland, but is now serving a nine-week prison sentence in the Republic for contempt of court.

The sentencing was the culmination of a high-profile legal battle between the Quinns and bailed-out bank Anglo Irish over claims of asset-stripping by the former billionaire.

At the High Court at the end of July 2012, it was found that Sean Quinn, his son Sean Quinn Jnr and his nephew Peter Darragh Quinn had defied court orders by asset stripping.

The men were found to have put about half a billion euros beyond the reach of the Irish Bank Resolution Corporation (IBRC), formerly Anglo Irish Bank.

Sean Quinn Jnr was sent to jail for three months, while his father was initially spared a sentence in order to take steps to reverse the asset-stripping scheme.

Peter Darragh Quinn has avoided jail by not showing up at the July hearing and remaining in Northern Ireland.

Sean Quinn is due for release on January 4.

(IT/GK)

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