A former billionaire has described a Gardaí search of his house on Wednesday as a “fishing expedition”.

The house of Sean Quinn outside Ballyconnell, Co. Cavan was the scene of a Gardaí search as part of an ongoing criminal investigation.

Speaking to the BBC about the search, Mr. Quinn said: “We don’t know why they were here. They said it was coercion, deception, harassment stuff like that.

“So I asked them who was I harassing, this that and the other and they said, ‘Look we can’t tell you that. We just have to do our investigation but that’s what we’re here for’.

“They never mentioned anything about criminality unless harassment is criminality they never mentioned anything like that at all.

“It’s just a fishing expedition is all I can see because you can’t tell me why you’re here.

“So they said, ‘We’ll do the investigation and report back to you’, so they took my phone, they took my diary and they took big boxes of stuff and went off with it, and I’m no wiser now than I was three or four hours ago.”

READ MORE: Sean Quinn's Cavan house searched by Gardaí

In a short statement, a spokesperson for An Garda Síochána said: “Gardaí based in the Cavan/Monaghan Garda Division carrying out an ongoing criminal investigation into alleged criminal activity in Cavan and the wider Border region have today executed a search warrant issued by a District Court Judge under the Section 10 of the Criminal Justice (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1997, at a domestic residence in Co. Cavan.”

As it was part of an ongoing criminal investigation, An Garda Síochána would not make any further comment.

The search concluded shortly after 2pm and no arrests were made.