Tribunal 'in the dark' about source of money to buy land

Mahon Tribunal: The Mahon tribunal still doesn't know where the money came from to buy the lands at Carrickmines it is investigating.

Judge Alan Mahon said there were "20 or 30" questions that could be asked about the purchase of the lands in the 1980s, yet the tribunal didn't have the answers to any of these. The tribunal was still "in the dark" as to how the money was raised to buy the lands, and it couldn't understand why this information had not been disclosed.

Judge Gerald Keys told Mr Ian Finlay SC, for the co-owner of the land, solicitor Mr John Caldwell, that the tribunal would take "a dim view" if documentation explaining these matters was not produced.

Earlier, the tribunal heard that the entire legal profession would be incapable of devising a legal agreement that businessman Mr Jim Kennedy would resile from. Litigation was the air Mr Kennedy breathed, and he had the resources for it.

Mr Gerry Charleton, who represented land agent Mr Sam Stanley in the acquisition of land at Carrickmines in the 1980s, said Mr Kennedy had the ability to litigate Mr Stanley "into oblivion".

However, Mr Charleton said the man who played the biggest part in the "annihilation" of Mr Stanley was Mr Kennedy's business partner, Mr Caldwell.

Mr Caldwell and Mr Kennedy owned Paisley Park, the company that bought the Carrickmines land. The two men rejected a claim by Mr Stanley, who was engaged to buy the land, to a 20 per cent stake for his work. The tribunal is investigating allegations that Mr Kennedy bribed councillors to get the land rezoned.

Mr Kennedy and Mr Caldwell had decided to get rid of Mr Stanley by reducing his stake in Paisley Park to virtually nothing under the pretext of commercial reasons, he said.

Earlier, the witness objected to "ad nauseam repetition" of questions by Mr Finlay.

Mr Charleton accused counsel of being "unduly repetitive" in his questioning. He said he had been in the witness box for four days and "there is no end in sight".

However, Mr Finlay said he was setting out the evidence that would be given by his client. Last week he had been criticised for not giving enough detail about Mr Caldwell's evidence, but now he was being criticised for giving too much.

The witness accused Mr Caldwell of grossly misrepresenting his position in relation to the land. "We were labouring under the delusion, induced by your client, that he was acting as a professional adviser, even though he was an equity-holder." Not only had Mr Caldwell failed to disclose his 50 per cent stake in Paisley, but he had grossly misrepresented his position, Mr Charleton said.

According to Mr Finlay, his client will say that Mr Kennedy told him Mr Stanley was looking for £1 million for his role in acquiring the land. Mr Caldwell regarded this figure as an unreal demand, but both he and Mr Kennedy recognised that Mr Stanley was in "a crucial position of power" because Paisley Park didn't have an enforceable contract.

Mr Caldwell believed the £1 million figure was "completely unrealistic and preposterous". The land was not worth more than the £540,000 which was being paid.

In 1988 the shareholders agreed that Mr Stanley would get a 20 per cent share of Paisley Park, but there was no agreement to pay him any money.

The chairman, Judge Alan Mahon, made no comment yesterday about recent newspaper leaks of confidential material from the tribunal. Last week the chairman described as regrettable the disclosure of information from the statement of former Fianna Fáil minister Ms Mary O'Rourke in relation to the forthcoming Quarryvale module of investigation.

However, since the tribunal last sat on Friday many of the statements circulated for the Quarryvale module have been leaked to TV3 and Sunday newspapers.

Judge Mahon's predecessor, Mr Justice Flood, responded to earlier leaks by threatening court action and referring them to gardaí.