Further doubt cast on Jackson Way's ownership of Dublin land

Mahon Tribunal: Further doubt has been cast on the claim by controversial property company Jackson Way to own land at Carrickmines in south Dublin which is the subject of a €13 million compensation award.

Dún Laoghaire/Rathdown County Council has refused to pay out the award, made in respect of land compulsorily acquired for the South-Eastern Motorway, after earlier evidence to the tribunal suggested that Jackson Way did not have valid legal title to the land.

This evidence appeared to show that ownership of the land is held not by Jackson Way but by Iris Development Company, a Panamanian-registered entity about which little is known.

Yesterday, Mr John Caldwell, one of the owners of Jackson Way, conceded that documents were not available to prove that ownership of the land passed to his company via a complex series of offshore transactions.

However, he said he pointed out that the tribunal didn't have access to all files and expressed the belief that the documents did exist.

Businessman Mr Jim Kennedy bought the Carrickmines land in 1989 and ownership was then transferred to an Isle of Man company, Paisley Park. Majority ownership of Paisley Park was vested in two trustee companies, Renzenbrinck Investments and Maskani Management, incorporated in Panama and the Isle of Man.

Mr Caldwell and Mr Kennedy owned these two companies, respectively.

In 1992, the shareholdings of these companies were transferred to Iris Development.

Then, a year later, as part of the liquidation of Paisley Park, Jackson Way was set up to hold the land as nominee for Renzenbrinck and Maskani.

Yesterday, Mr Des O'Neill SC, for the tribunal, said there was no record of Iris Development's shares being transferred back to Renzenbrinck and Maskani. (If this did not happen, Jackson Way would not own the land.)

Mr Caldwell agreed, but said the files of the Isle of Man-based liquidator of Paisley Park, Mr Roderick Harker, were not available to the tribunal.

Although he had no recollection of Mr Harker telling him that he had such a document, he would expect the liquidator to have it.

He agreed, however, that in 1992-93, Iris Development was the majority shareholder in Paisley Park and therefore the company entitled to the Carrickmines land at that point.