Bovale counsel calls Gogarty a liar

The tribunal's chief witness, Mr James Gogarty, was a liar and was deliberately deceiving the tribunal when he said he stayed on with the Murphy group after his normal retiring age simply to ensure that he received his pension, it was alleged yesterday.

Beginning his cross-examination of Mr Gogarty, Mr Colm Allen SC for the Bailey brothers and their company Bovale Developments, said a letter that Mr Gogarty wrote to Mr Joe Murphy senior in May 1988, when he was 71, showed he wanted to remain working with the group.

In the letter, Mr Gogarty told Mr Murphy snr that his companies were being improperly managed, that business was being conducted in a "careless, negligent and reckless" manner and that it would "be very difficult to prove that fraud had not taken place".

Mr Gogarty went on to suggest that he and Mr Murphy snr take steps to regain control of the company from its then management and restore it to a sound financial basis. Mr Gogarty said that when that was done, it would be possible to take the group to the stock exchange for a public flotation.

"Although this would be challenging, it would be exciting for both of us. I envisage the overall timing to be not more than two years. I would very much like to meet you in this matter so that we could take the first firm steps together," he had added.

Mr Allen said this clearly showed Mr Gogarty had other motivation than his pension when he considered staying with the company. In response Mr Gogarty said: "I could have retired if I had security and pension for my wife and my family. I saw the risks to the companies that was happening, where they could be brought down . . . It was my interests as well as Joe's interest that those companies would survive and they could be able to fund my pension. And I wanted to be sure that that would happen at all costs."

Mr Allen said: "The point is that your expressed wish to be involved in this exciting enterprise . . . is entirely and utterly inconsistent with what we have listened to you say . . .

He then said he regretted having to use the word, but that Mr Gogarty was "lying". Mr Gogarty, however, said he rejected Mr Allen's assertion "completely".