Questioning suspended to allow judicial review action

The Flood tribunal adjourned suddenly following the decision by the High Court to give leave to a Dublin auctioneer to seek a judicial review of the tribunal's investigations into his business dealings.

The tribunal suspended hearings yesterday afternoon immediately after learning of the court's decision to accede to Mr John Finnegan's ex parte application.

In granting the application, the court did not require the tribunal to adjourn. However, Mr Pat Hanratty SC, for the tribunal, said it would be prudent not to proceed with the tribunal's investigations into the reasons why builders Brennan and McGowan paid large amounts of money offshore to Mr Finnegan.

Last week Mr Finnegan's lawyers threatened to go to the court unless the tribunal ended its investigations into their client. Mr Dominick Hussey SC, for Mr Finnegan, accused the tribunal of a "systematic character assassination" and "utter vilification" of his client, and produced a document which he claimed showed that Mr Finnegan knew nothing about payments to the former minister, Mr Ray Burke.

Mr Finnegan was involved in a number of complex land deals in which Brennan and McGowan bought land in Dublin and later transferred the proceeds offshore, where Mr Finnegan received a one-third share. In one of these deals, involving lands in Sandyford, £60,000 was transferred to Mr Burke. Some £10,000 of this came from Mr Finnegan without, he says, his knowledge.

The tribunal will resume tomorrow, when Mr Hanratty hopes to continue questioning Mr Tom Brennan on matters that do not touch on Mr Finnegan. However, he said this depended on the quality of the financial records recently furnished to the tribunal by Mr Brennan. A further adjournment might be necessary.

Mr Justice Flood agreed it would be prudent and courteous to the High Court not to proceed at this stage. He expressed the hope that Mr Brennan would use the time available to locate the documents sought by the tribunal.