FORMER EU commissioner Pádraig Flynn paid the Revenue Commissioners in 1998 almost £23,000 in gift tax owed on the £50,000 donation given to him in 1989 by Luton-based developer Tom Gilmartin after it became public, the Mahon tribunal was told yesterday. Fiona Gartlandreports.
Mr Flynn said he told the Revenue most of the money had been spent on election expenses. He said he made the declaration not because the issue was in the public domain but because he had decided not to contest the next election and wanted to "finish off that whole question". He offered £6,000 in back tax, but ended up paying nearly £23,000, he said.
Counsel for the tribunal, Patricia Dillon SC, noted that in a letter to the Revenue Commissioners at the time, Mr Flynn's accountants, KPMG, had said the money was spent over the course of two elections, in 1989 and 1992, yet Mr Flynn had told the tribunal that most of the money was spent on the 1989 election.
She said that if Mr Flynn withdrew £25,000 and spent it in October 1989, it could only be spent on the 1989 election. "Please don't premise your questions with if," Mr Flynn replied.
The tribunal had heard that Mr Gilmartin said he gave a cheque to Mr Flynn, but intended it for the Fianna Fáil party. Mr Gilmartin had also said that in a series of phone calls to him in 1998 when the matter became public, Mr Flynn tried to persuade him to say the cheque was a personal donation. Mr Flynn denied this.
Mr Gilmartin had also said that Mr Flynn wanted to meet him and was willing to travel to England from Brussels. However, Mr Flynn said yesterday the meeting was at Mr Gilmartin's initiative.
"The man was stressed out and he was anxious to talk it over with someone he regarded as friendly and I was friendly," Mr Flynn said.
Ms Dillon pointed out that it was Mr Flynn who initiated contact with Mr Gilmartin in 1998 and he was not calling him so that Mr Gilmartin could "unburden himself". She asked Mr Flynn why he would go to such a meeting.
"The man was quite stressed and I thought I might have been able to relieve some of his stress," Mr Flynn said. The meeting was arranged for October 4th but never happened.
Ms Dillon read out a note made by Mr Flynn of a phone call he made in September 1998 to Mr Gilmartin, who told him a meeting had happened in Cork with developer Owen O'Callaghan, at which Mr Flynn had been discussed and that he was to be "ditched".
"Did you understand . . . you were going to be cut loose politically?" Ms Dillon asked. "I doubt it, nobody cuts me loose politically," Mr Flynn responded.
He said he did not know whether or not the meeting took place and he did not contact anyone to verify whether the meeting had taken place.
Ms Dillon pointed out that there was a Fianna Fáil convention in the Imperial Hotel in Cork on the day referred to and that Bertie Ahern had also been in Cork.
An original document, provided by Mr Flynn to the tribunal yesterday, was also read into the record. It was a note of a call from Mr Gilmartin to Mr Flynn on October 3rd. On its reverse, a second note said: "You will not give it to FF, let him do his own messages!!! Give it to a mediator - if Tom G won't accept then have it donated to charity."
Mr Flynn said he did not make this note, but it was likely to have been made by his wife. He could not say if it was a reference to the £50,000 he received from Mr Gilmartin.