Alleged donation to Burke discussed at Flood

Confusing references to an alleged £60,000 donation to former minister Mr Ray Burke dominated this morning's proceedings at the Flood Tribunal, which resumed after a summer break.

The tribunal heard how Mr Joe McGowan met with his solicitor in Jersey, Mr Laurence Wheeler, on November 13th 1984 to discuss a possible political donation to Mr Burke.

Ms Patricia Dillon SC, for the tribunal, asked why Mr Wheeler would subsequently refer in a telex the day after the meeting to the proposed reservation of £60,000 for "architect’s fees" and "future expenses".

Mr McGowan replied he had not instructed Mr Wheeler to represent what was discussed in the meeting in that way. It did not accurately reflect what had been discussed and references to architect’s fees were confusing he said.

Ms Dillon then suggested Mr Wheeler had elected to mis-describe the proposed payment, to which Mr McGowan replied he could not comment for Mr Wheeler.

However, he suggested perhaps Mr Wheeler was seeking to keep the donation between the companies involved: Gashe Investments, Kalabraki Ltd, and College Trustees.

The tribunal then heard about a second letter written Mr Wheeler on the same day to Dublin accountant Mr Hugh Owens. Paragraph four of this letter said: "£60,000 be retained against future expenses should Dublin County Council not proceed with the purchase of land".

Ms Dillon said taken together, the two documents suggested Mr Wheeler had misdescribed both - to which Mr McGowan replied: "if that’s what the letter says".

When pressed, Mr McGowan said he could not think of any reason why Mr Wheeler would want to keep the recipient of the proposed donation secret.

This morning’s evidence was punctuated by a number of interjections by Mr McGowan’s counsel, Mr Martin Hayden SC, on the nature of questions being put to the witness.

Mr Justice Flood said it was unfair to intervene between questions and the subsequent answer of the witness.