The fugitive nephew of former billionaire industrialist Seán Quinn - who faces arrest if he ever returns to the Republic - now owns a Dublin company worth over a million, writes Michael O'Farrell.
Peter Darragh Quinn went on the run in the summer of 2012 rather than be jailed for contempt of court after he helped the Quinn family to move their €500m global property portfolio beyond the reach of creditors. In doing so, he avoided the fate of his uncle and cousin, Seán Quinn Jr, who spent time in jail to purge their contempt.
Peter Jr was made bankrupt in 2014 after the special liquidators for the Irish Bank Resolution Corporation secured a judgment of $188m against him.
Now, despite remaining a fugitive, Peter Quinn Jr has exited bankruptcy with a clean slate and owns a new recruitment business called Eurotas, with companies on both sides of the border.
The warrant for Peter Jr's arrest remains in force.
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A senior security source said: "Even though the warrant was issued in 2012, it still exists. It would still be live and even though it's 10 years later it's still live. The warrant wouldn't die."
This means that if he is apprehended south of the border, Peter Jr will be brought to the High Court to face the contempt charge - and likely be imprisoned in a similar fashion to his uncle and cousin.
However, this threat has not stopped Peter Jr from doing business in the Republic - something the authorities here were not aware of until informed by the Irish Mail on Sunday this week.
But although they are now aware of the fugitive's new business interests in Dublin, the authorities remain powerless to act.
A source familiar with the process said: "It's interesting that Peter Quinn Jr has set up a new business, but unfortunately the Irish State can do nothing to get anything back financially from him because he went bankrupt in the UK."
Peter Jr's new firm describes itself as "a UK and Ireland-based company which specialises in supplying manpower to our clients throughout UK, Ireland, Europe and the world."
Eurotas (NI) Ltd was first incorporated in the North in late 2018 by Peter Quinn Sr - a loyal brother of Seán Quinn Sr and one-time President of the GAA.
At the same time, a sister company of the same name was incorporated in Dublin and now operates from an office on Sir John Rogerson's Quay.
By August 2021, the Northern Irish firm, operating from an office in Belfast's Ormeau, had available cash resources of £1.4m.
On the same date, the southern firm's accounts posted cash at bank of €772,000 and debtors of €836,000 - meaning €1.6m in assets. It paid €661,000 in wages that year.
Although originally established by his father, ownership of these firms transferred to Peter Jr in September 2021.
This ownership is held via Beechmount Developments Ltd, the Enniskillen firm of Peter Quinn Sr, which has also now passed to Peter Jr.
As the owner of Beechmount, Peter Jr is now in control of its £2.6m in assets.
In January this year, Peter Jr also set up a new Dublin firm called Eurotas Engineering Ltd.
This firm has not yet posted any financial details, but Peter Jr's southern recruitment operation is actively engaged in the Dublin market.
In July 2021, Revenue provided the Dublin firm with a letter confirming it had "a real and continuous link with one or more economic activities being carried on in the State".
According to the Eurotas website, Dublin contracts have involved providing construction staff to Lidl supermarket developments and other projects around the city.
Eurotas lists Peter Jr's work with various Quinn family assets abroad on its website to highlight its owner's experience. A development in Q City in Hyderabad, India, and the Kutuzoff tower in Moscow are represented as Eurotas projects on the company's website and Facebook pages.
A decade ago, these properties formed part of the asset stripping scheme that Peter Jr assisted the Quinns to implement as they battled to keep millions from the State.
As revealed in court papers at the time, control of the Kutuzoff tower was vested in "men of straw" - including an unemployed Russian rail worker - in order to hide the Quinn family's stake.
The asset-stripping scheme was described in one court judgment as one of "mesmeric complexity" that "reeks of dishonesty and sharp practice".
Another ruling described the intent of the scheme as being "as far removed from the concept of honour and respectability as it is possible to be".
His role in the scheme would result in Peter Jr becoming a fugitive but today he is using his experience of managing the Quinns' global portfolio as an endorsement of his new recruitment firm.
"Q City was a challenging project logistically due to its location in India," the Eurotas Facebook page reads.
"We supplied Project Management who were heavily involved in the design and build."
Various other former Quinn family properties are also used in this fashion by Eurotas, including the Belfry golf course, which was once a trophy asset of Seán Quinn's.
€440m owed by Seán Quinn's five children to the Irish taxpayer remains unpaid.
A judgment of €88m was secured against each of Cavan-based Quinn's five children, Seán Jr, Aoife, Brenda, Ciara and Colette, following a protracted legal battle between the family and the Irish Bank Resolution Corporation, formerly Anglo Irish Bank.
A source familiar with the process said the judgments would only be enforced "if one of them [Quinn children] comes into a windfall or if it transpires that any information they gave about assets was wrong".
Even though the €440m owed to the State remains unpaid, Seán Quinn claimed in the three-part documentary series, Quinn Country, aired on RTÉ One last week, that he wanted to be remembered as "the man they tried to bury and they weren't able to bury him".
Image: Sean Quinn jnr, Peter Quinn and Sean Quinn snr leave the High Court for lunch. Photo: Laura Hutton/Photocall Ireland
