Finnegan knew of donation - McGowan

The auctioneer Mr John Finnegan knowingly contributed to a donation to Fianna Fβil organised by Brennan and McGowan, but may not have been told the money was intended for Mr Ray Burke, the tribunal has heard.

The builder, Mr Joe McGowan, said he asked Mr Finnegan to make a £20,000 contribution to Fianna Fβil, to match the amounts he and Mr Tom Brennan intended to contribute.

However, Mr Finnegan considered this too much.

"He certainly wouldn't agree. He thought it was quite an amount of money," Mr McGowan told the tribunal yesterday.

This evidence conflicts with the version put forward by Mr Finnegan, who maintains that Brennan and McGowan kept him "in the dark" about the payment.

In November 1984, Canio, a company owned by the three men, made a payment of £60,000 to Mr Burke through an account in Jersey.

The money came from a mortgage taken out by Canio to buy lands at Sandyford in Dublin.

Mr McGowan said he discussed his and Mr Brennan's plans to make a donation to Fianna Fβil over lunch with Mr Finnegan some time in 1984.

He asked if Foxtown Investments, Mr Finnegan's company in Jersey, would make a one-third contribution.

He said he couldn't recall mentioning Mr Burke's name in relation to the donation.

The figure of £20,000 wasn't agreed but after this meeting Mr Finnegan consented to a contribution of £10,000, the witness said.

However, Mr Brennan had already arranged with Mr Burke to make a donation of £60,000. Mr Brennan and Mr McGowan then decided to make up the shortfall by increasing their contributions to £25,000 each, with the rest coming from Mr Finnegan.

Ms Patricia Dillon SC, for the tribunal, asked Mr McGowan why he had not mentioned Mr Burke's name to Mr Finnegan.

The witness said he did not know. There was "no reason". It was not "really" a payment to Mr Burke.

Ms Dillon asked why the contribution to Mr Burke had to be £60,000. Why, if Mr Finnegan only wanted to contribute £10,000, had the three men not given just £30,000?

Mr McGowan said this was what they had agreed with Mr Burke.

"Tom Brennan had said a contribution of £60,000 would be forthcoming. We were stuck with it. If you say you are going to make a political contribution, you usually carry it out. It is like any gentlemen's agreement."

Asked why he asked Mr Finnegan to contribute, the witness said "he just did".

Ms Dillon asked if he had been requested to pay the money to a company, but Mr McGowan said this was not the case.

Ms Dillon then pointed to Mr McGowan's statement of last May, which states that the payment was made "to Caviar Ltd at the request of Mr Burke".

Asked which version was correct, Mr McGowan said his statement was accurate. He said he was "very confused" about the payment to Caviar.

Ms Dillon pointed out that the payment was referred to as "possible future expenses" and "architect's fees" in correspondence that passed between Brennan and McGowan's advisers.

She asked why this was so. Was it on the instructions of the witness? It was clear the correspondence represented an attempt to "conceal the true nature of the payment".

Mr McGowan said he did not know. These were not his instructions. There was no reason to keep the donation secret. It was "a well-known fact" that Brennan and McGowan had contributed substantial amounts of money to Mr Burke over the years.

"If there was no reason to keep it secret, why didn't you make the payment in Ireland?" counsel asked.

Mr McGowan said they "chose to do it in this manner". The Channel Islands was where the money was.

Earlier, the tribunal heard further details of the business links between Brennan and McGowan and Mr Finnegan.

In the late 1970s, the three men jointly purchased an industrial property on Cranmer Lane in Dublin's city centre.

They sold the property, which had an annual rental income of £23,000, after three or four years.

They also jointly purchased the Herbert Street Plantation site, off Baggot Street.

Mr McGowan said he believed Mr Finnegan acted as selling agent for the owners, the Pembroke Estate.

Planning permission was applied for and given for a scheme of flats and offices.

But before they were built, it was sold on to the Green Property company. Unlike the other transactions involving the three men, there was no Jersey link in this deal.

In the mid-1970s, the three men also bought a racehorse together, which Mr McGowan trained.

On one occasion, they jointly purchased shares in Jersey.