HEALTH GURU Tony Quinn could be booted as a director from an oil company he sits on – and the company wound up – over a legal dispute about whether the company should be paying dividends.

International Natural Energy, a company founded by two Northern Irish women, discovered massive reserves of oil in the central American republic in 2005.

The company was also set up by Paul Marriott, who is bringing the action against Quinn, and Jean Cornec who is simultaneously taking legal action over funds outstanding to him after the sale of his shareholding.

Most of the company’s current shareholders – thought to number about 400 – have become involved in the company through Quinn’s various health seminars, after Quinn himself was invited onto the board in 2007.

While many of the shareholders are thus loyal to Quinn, the Irish Times reports that many have become frustrated at its failure to pay any dividends despite the bounty of oil uncovered and the company’s nine-figure revenues every year as a result.

The company claims it is debarred from paying a dividend on the insistence of the banks lending to the company to fund its drilling operations – though it last year provided $9m (€6.87m) in loans to shareholders “in good standing”.

As a result, Marriott is now seeking to either force the remaining shareholders to recompense him for the shares he sold or for the company to be liquidated entirely.