AIB official tells of Gilmartin calls

AN AIB bank official has said she believed Luton-based developer Tom Gilmartin "was quite prepared to wreck his project" to show the other shareholders that he had the power to do it.

Mary Basquille, then assistant manager at AIB corporate banking, said Mr Gilmartin frequently called her during her four-year involvement with Barkhill Ltd, the company behind the Liffey Valley Shopping Centre at Quarryvale west Dublin.

The numerous phone calls, made between 1992 and 1996, lasted for an hour or more, could be "extremely irrational", and would include allegations that the bank had treated him badly, she said.

Ms Basquille said Mr Gilmartin complained that "blackmail and corrupt practices had been at play" in getting him to agree to allow the bank and Cork developer Owen O'Callaghan to have a share in the Quarryvale development.

But, Ms Basquille said, she did not recall him complaining about payments to lobbyist Frank Dunlop or mentioning bribery. And he frequently apologised at the end of the calls, only to "throw the whole thing at her again" the following day.

Mr Gilmartin had agreed to give Cork developer Owen O'Callaghan a 40 per cent share in the development after he ran into financial difficulties in 1991; AIB held a 20 per cent share. Mr O'Callaghan then introduced Mr Dunlop to the project to help with lobbying for zoning approval for what became the Liffey Valley Shopping Centre.

Counsel for the tribunal, Pat Quinn SC, said Mr Gilmartin had said he complained about payments to Mr Dunlop. "Not to me," Ms Basquille responded.

However, she accepted, though she did not recall, that Mr Gilmartin had phoned in December 1992, in advance of a crucial vote on Quarryvale, and threatened to go to the press and wreck the project.

She informed her superior, but did not make a file note of the call.

On the day of the vote, two representatives of the bank flew to England to talk to Mr Gilmartin about his concerns, the tribunal was told.

Mr Quinn said there was no need for the bank to be worried about Mr Gilmartin's threat if all he was going to do was complain about the shareholders' agreement.

"His conversations with me would have been extremely irrational. . . if he had made contact with the press in a similar vein, I would have been extremely concerned," Ms Basquille said.

"Any adverse publicity for a company that was at a critical stage of progressing its project I would have considered would have been detrimental to the company," she added.