Former taoiseach 'lost £390,000'

Mr Reynolds lost almost £390,000 from his involvement in the failed attempt to buy the land at Lissenhall, he told reporters …

Mr Reynolds lost almost £390,000 from his involvement in the failed attempt to buy the land at Lissenhall, he told reporters outside the tribunal.

However, he made almost £2 million on his next deal in south Dublin, the former taoiseach quickly added. "The next one paid for the lot, and more along with it . . . I decided to go back to the way I always did business - do your own business."

He denied the elaborate offshore financial structures described by tribunal lawyers were designed to avoid tax. Mr Reynolds was the beneficial owner - though not a director or shareholder - of Universal Management Consultants, a Jersey-based company used as a vehicle to buy Lissenhall. He accepted UMC probably had an account in Jersey.

"I never set up a tax exemption company in any part of the world, never mind Jersey," he stated. He said he saw nothing wrong with an offshore company or bank account, though he was concerned about the way the public might perceive things.

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"I see nothing wrong, I have no [ offshore] bank account. I'm not a director."