Builder admits that he lied in sworn affidavit

The builder Mr Joe McGowan has admitted lying in an affidavit he swore during court proceedings in 1985, but he insists that he has not lied in his dealings with the tribunal.

Under sustained questioning from Ms Patricia Dillon SC, for the tribunal, Mr McGowan conceded that a number of statements were lies, while others were "a tissue of lies".

Ms Dillon accused him of deliberately setting out to ruin his former solicitor, Mr George Russell, "a decent and honorable man", by lying in the affidavit, which was sworn during litigation between Brennan and McGowan and Mr Russell.

Mr Russell died in 1999, but his son, Philip, told the tribunal earlier this year that his father was "absolutely devastated" by the litigation.

"You hung him out to dry," Ms Dillon put it to the witness yesterday. "You swore he lied."

"I can't explain it," Mr McGowan replied. "I had no wish to do any harm to George Russell or his family."

Working through the affidavit, Ms Dillon pointed to numerous statements which she said were incorrect: Mr McGowan wrongly swore that he had not moved money out of the jurisdiction; that he did not have money in the Channel Islands; that he was not the owner of Canio Ltd; and that he had not failed to disclose his beneficial interest in any company.

He also misled the President of the High Court in relation to the identity of lands at Sandyford which were purchased by Canio. Ms Dillon pointed out that £606,000 had been transmitted to Mr McGowan's company in Jersey, Gasche Investments, in the preceding years.

Mr McGowan said the affidavit was not accurate.

Mr Justice Flood said he did not accept that "not accurate" was an acceptable excuse for anything which was sworn as "the full truth" before the court.

"Is it your normal habit to lie with impunity?" Ms Dillon asked.

Mr McGowan said it wasn't. This was an isolated occurrence.

Mr Justice Flood said under no circumstances could a lie be excused. There were no exceptions to the truth in a solemn, sworn document.

Ms Dillon pointed out that the affidavit was sworn in 1985, less than a year after Brennan and McGowan had paid Ray Burke £60,000. One paragraph alone in the affidavit contained six untruths. Mr McGowan had also denied reading or writing a document that was, it turned out, in his own handwriting.

"This illustrates a lifetime of lying. When you are cornered, you lie," she said.

"When you were cornered by George Russell's affidavit you lied in respect to it," counsel said. Mr McGowan: "That's true".

"This is but a written illustration of the way you conducted your business. When expediency demanded it, you will lie with impunity," Ms Dillon said. "Why should any person accept that anything that comes out of your mouth is the truth?"

"I can't answer that," Mr McGowan replied.

"You lied to the sole member of the tribunal when you were in full knowledge of the circumstances and you set about concealing documents and evidence that would show that you were lying," Ms Dillon said.

The witness denied lying to the tribunal. "I came here originally not having sufficient resources and I told it exactly as it happened."

As Ms Dillon listed another inaccuracy in Mr McGowan's affidavit, she asked: "How many lies is that?"

"Certainly more than the number of apologies I made yesterday," he replied.