The acting Attorney General has insisted he has exerted no influence on the Sefton bail-out deal – despite being a shareholder and former legal advisor to the company.
John Quinn told iomtoday that following his new appointment in March this year, he ‘took no part whatsoever’ in any dealings or decisions related to the Sefton Group.
Defending the controversial deal to loan the debt-ridden plc £1.3 million and buy and lease back the strategic Middlemarch site for £3.2 million, Chief Minister Allan Bell MHK insisted legal advice was taken from the Attorney General’s chambers.
Until John Quinn was appointed acting Attorney General, he was employed by the Sefton Group on a part-time basis as its group legal counsel, a position he had held since July 2009, and had also been group company secretary.
As group legal counsel, he acted for Sefton on the government support package – but insisted he played no part once appointed as acting AG.
He insisted: ‘I believe every step was taken to properly distance me and that I personally properly distanced myself from this matter so as to ensure there could be no suggestion whatsoever that I did or indeed could have exerted any influence on the matter.’
Mr Quinn said he had never been a director of Sefton Group plc or any of its subsidiaries and so never had any role in its formal decision making.
He explained his role was limited to acting professionally as lawyer, advising the board and its management on issues referred to him and acting as company secretary.
‘When I left Sefton on March 14, I was aware of the progress that had been made at that date by Sefton management in their discussions with government,’ he said.
‘I had not, however, attended meetings with government, at either political or officer level when discussing the Sefton’s case. When I left I can say that terms had not been finalised between Sefton and government in relation to any support proposals.
‘I was appointed HM Acting Attorney General on March 18 2013. After that date and in my new role I took no part whatsoever in advising or working on any aspect of government’s support proposals for Sefton Group.
‘Having been acting for Sefton as lawyer on the project it would have been wrong to then act and advise government. The Attorney General’s Chambers were, however, involved but I was never present at any meetings and was never asked about or indeed discussed the matter with any of the legal officers. ‘Also the actual legal office leading the legal representation of government in connection with the Sefton support proposals worked remotely from Chambers at her home so both she and her papers were not available to me in Chambers.
‘Also when I was in Government Offices attending any meeting following my appointment when Sefton was or was likely to be mentioned everyone was rightly cautious not to involve me and on occasion I was first asked to leave the room which I did and then any minutes of any such meetings always had, on my copy minutes, any reference to Sefton omitted.
‘Government and its various officers properly distanced me from any dealings or decisions relating to Sefton.’
Mr Quinn confirmed that in addition to being an employee of Sefton Group he had also held some 1.4 million shares in the company – a shareholding of about 4 per cent.
He said that on learning of his impending appointment as acting AG he was concerned to distance myself from this shareholding ‘to avoid any further suggestion that it was in my interest to seek to influence, as a shareholder, any decision making in government concerning Sefton’.
‘I therefore disposed of the majority of my shares,’ he said.
The Examiner reported back in 2011 the Mr Quinn and his wife Heather, of The Cooil, Braddan, had successfully brought a high court claim against Graham Ferguson Lacey who had stepped down as executive chairman and director of the Sefton Group the previous year, citing poor health.
Mr Ferguson Lacey was ordered to pay back £1 million plus interest and costs after failing to repay a loan the Quinns had made to him in November 2009.
The defendant’s advocate told the court his client hadn’t the money to repay the loan as the ‘cupboard I’m afraid is pretty bare’.
The Sefton Group is seeking to recover just over £300,000 from Mr Ferguson Lacey after obtaining a court judgement against him. Chief executive Brett Martin told the Examiner the issue was in the hands of the coroner.
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