Bogus Maltese firm was enough to send Ireland’s richest to jail

A man who was once Ireland's richest and had attempted to hide behind a non-existent Malta-based insurance company, was jailed for nine weeks last Friday, after he was found guilty of contempt by a Dublin court.

Sean Quinn, 66, owes €2.8 billion to IBRC, the former Anglo Irish Bank, and charged with defying court orders by putting assets beyond the reach of the bank.

Among other pieces of evidence, prosecutors presented a statement from Malta Financial Services Authority chairman Joseph Bannister, who denied that Quinn had a Malta-based insurance licence for his new insurance company, Q2.

Bannister said Malta's financial services regulator "had received no application from Q2 and that there was no licenced insurer under the name of P. Elliot & Co".

Bannister also confirmed that Cavan-based building firm P Elliot & Co had applied for a licence in 2007 but said the firm then withdrew its licence in 2009 due to the economic downturn. Q2 was never registered in Malta either, according to Bannister.

"You cannot buy a licence in Malta. Any licence granted would require extensive due diligence and the MFSA is in regular contact with other regulators," Bannister said.

Quinn, who was the founder of Quinn Insurance, was said to have obtained a licence for a Malta-based company with the operating name of 'Q2', and that it had a reinsurance deal with Swiss Re and close links to Irish building company P. Elliott & Co.

The bogus Maltese insurance company was said to be one of Quinn's attempts to dispose of family assets away from Ireland in defiance of a court order.