September 23, 2012 13

COFFERS TO TRACK ‘ENEMIES’ AND SILENCE OUR INVESTIGATION

the French Riviera.He refused to speak to

our reporter when we confront-ed him on the seafront and hisyoung lover tried to shield himfrom our photographer.

Our sources, which the HighCourt decided to protect thisweek, also gave us a uniqueinsight in to Tony’s mind-bend-ing seminars.

EcstacyVideos never before seen by

the general public took SundayWorld readers inside the€64,000 sessions. Footageshowed participants writhing onthe floor in supposed ecstasy asQuinn touched them andwalked among them.

The most devastating claimsthat came to light during ourinvestigations detailed how for-mer follower Maire Lalor fromWaterford accused Quinn of sex-ual assault and battery.

Lalor spent 25 years in theguru’s inner circle. She told ushow she believed he was theincarnation of Jesus Christ andhad three “healing sex” sessionswith him.

“He was massively charismat-ic,” she said. “After the classeshe would give a talk and peoplewould shake and swoon. I devot-ed my life to Quinn. I believedthat he was the Messiah. I soldhis seminars and remortgagedmy own home to attend them.”

She walked away when sheconcluded Quinn was purelymotivated by greed. She hasnow lodged sexual assault pro-ceedings against him and her

case is listed for hearing soon.It was also the Sunday World

that revealed how Quinn hadstruck gold by being wrongfullyparachuted on to the board ofoil company INE, based in theimpoverished country of Belize.

Some leading shareholders inthe firm had attended his class-es and credited his mind-bend-ing techniques with finding oil.

But an ensuing boardroom bat-tle has landed Quinn in courtwith other former directors whoaccused him of using the compa-ny as a cash cow for his Educoempire and who claimed that heand Morrice bullied other share-holders while favouring those whowere Quinn devotees.

A court in the Caribbean lastmonth ruled that the guru wasnever properly appointed to hisrole in the company and over-turned a €23 million sharehold-ing he was gifted by followers,including Morrice.

It found Quinn had spentexcessive millions from thefirm’s coffers on his personalsecurity, as well as “preposter-ous” amounts sending itsemployees on his own courses.

The latest battle in the warwill take place in a court inDenver, Colorado, in January,where former business partnersare suing each other as the fall-out from Quinn’s involvement inINE continues.

nicola.tallant@sundayworld.com

JUDGE’S LANDMARK RULING FOR ■■THE SUNDAY WORLD this

week won a landmarklegal judgement to protectconfidential journalisticsources.

The High Court ruled that wecould not be forced to namesources who helped exposethe murky world of self-styledMessiah Tony Quinn.

■■The High Court defendedour right to investigate

Quinn’s empire, and upheld theprotection of journalisticsources which it confirmed isenshrined in the IrishConstitution.

It said journalists like ourInvestigations Editor NicolaTallant fulfil a role that is“essential in a free society”and are entitled to protectsources of information.

■■Quinn’s disciple SusanMorrice was trying to force

us to reveal the confidentialsources of information behinda series of damning revelationsabout the mind guru and hisinvolvement with internationaloil company INE.

She wanted to ‘out’ our

sources as part of a multi-mil-lion courtroom battle withanother former director of theoil firm Jean Cornec.

■■But Judge Gerard Hoganrefused a request by

lawyers for Morrice that theSunday World, and cult busterMike Garde, be forced toreveal confidential sources aspart of her case.

He stated: “[Nicola] Tallanthas a strong interest in pub-lishing material concerning MrQuinn and the affairs of INE, if,as she maintains, Mr Quinnholds unorthodox religiousviews and is effectively theleader of a religious cult whichhas used psychological tech-niques as a means of control-ling gullible adherents then – touse the language of Article40:6.1 – the media are clearlyentitled to educate public opin-ion in this regard.

■■“Ms Tallant, an investiga-tive reporter with the

Sunday World, has penned inthat newspaper several arti-cles in which she brands MrQuinn as a sham who exploits

the religious sensibilities of thevulnerable for financial gain,often using hypnosis.”

In a further victory for theprotection of journalisticsources, Judge Hogan went onto rule that what sources say,as well as their identity, isshielded by the constitution.

■■“In both cases, the publicinterest in protecting the

journalist... is very high sincethe exploration of the contentsof any discussions with thesource also has the ability sig-nificantly to hamper the exer-cise of freedom by the journal-ist in question,” Hogan said.

He also ruled that the consi-tutional right to freedom ofexpression would be “mean-ingless” if the law did not pro-tect the right of journalists toprotect their sources.

■■“The public interest inensuring journalists can

protect their sources remainsvery high since journalism iscentral to the free flow of infor-mation, which is essential in afree society,” he added.

‘The media areclearly entitled

to educatepublic opinion in this regard’

JudgeHogan

JEAN CORNEC: A former director of INE, heis suing the company for not paying him forhis share in the business. He is accused ofrunning a smear campaign against the com-pany and Quinn to damage the share price.

MAIRE LALOR: A supporter of TonyQuinn for over two decades and one-time member of his inner circle, she issuing Quinn, claiming he sexuallyassaulted her.

JOE DUFFY: His radio show Livelinecarried stories of former followers whofelt they had been duped out of moneyby Quinn. He is listed as ‘Opus Dei’ onthe Quinn file.

NICOLA TALLANT: Sunday World’sInvestigations Editor who has written exten-sively about Quinn and his mind-bendingseminars. A detailed dossier on her back-ground was built up by Quinn in a bid togag her and the Sunday World.

SHEILA McCAFFREY: A former foundingdirector of INE, she was forced out afterQuinn muscled in on the Board ofDirectors. Evidence that she was followedand had e-mails and computers hackedwas heard recently in court.

TONY QUINN hired a formerArmy Ranger to protect himselfagainst his so-called enemiesincluding a charity boss, journal-ist, broadcaster Joe Duffy andex-directors of oil company INE.

MIKE GARDE: Runs Dialogue Ireland, anorganisation helping people who are com-ing out of cults. A long-time critic of Quinnand his Educo cult.