Gogarty denies receiving finder's fee for land sale

Developer Mr Michael Bailey will claim that Mr James Gogarty sought and was given a sum of £162,000 which included interest as…

Developer Mr Michael Bailey will claim that Mr James Gogarty sought and was given a sum of £162,000 which included interest as a "finder's fee" for the sale of the Murphy lands in north Co Dublin, the tribunal was told yesterday.

Mr Gogarty rejected the claim as a "damn lie".

Mr Colm Allen SC, for the Baileys and Bovale Ltd, put it to Mr Gogarty that Mr Bailey would say in evidence that he (Mr Gogarty) sought a finder's fee for the sale of the Murphy lands.

"Oh Jesus, sure he'd say anything. It's a damn lie," Mr Gogarty said.

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Mr Allen said they would also say that Mr Gogarty nominated a particular sum of money as being the only sum acceptable to him.

Mr Gogarty said it was a damn lie.

Mr Allen said the sum was £150,000.

Mr Gogarty replied that was in the AIB. "He was putting it through petty cash." Asked again, Mr Gogarty said: "That's a damn lie and I saw the AIB note and Senior's name is on it or some Murphy, Murphy junior or something like that. About £150,000 going through petty cash for them. My name is not on it, although they tried to do it through the media." Mr Allen said Mr Bailey would say that he (Mr Gogarty) wanted to help a daughter of his who was a teacher to buy a house in Athlone.

Mr Gogarty laughed. "That's a damn lie because I haven't a daughter in Athlone a teacher." Mr Allen said Mr Bailey would say he agreed to pay a £150,000 fee in three stages.

Mr Gogarty replied that it had been mentioned in the media. "And he drew it out seemingly from the AIB and it's not in my name at all. He leaked to the press it was my name. It's bloody well Murphy's name on it, so he was doing something underhand with Murphy so he was."

Mr Allen said Mr Bailey would say there were three cheques.

Mr Gogarty: "I reject that."

Mr Allen: "There were three equal sums of £50,000, one of which was paid in cash, and two cheques were given to you to secure payments; the payments at two six-monthly intervals of additional sums of £50,000 each."

Mr Gogarty: "Totally ridiculous. Ridiculous." Mr Allen: "Mr Bailey will also say that in total, you were paid by him a sum of £162,000 because you asked for interest on what you considered to be a delayed payment for certain of the monies."

"Oh, Jesus, a damn lie. How do I go on stopping you from accusing me of these things? Have you any documentation with this now?" Mr Gogarty asked.

Mr Allen asked if he would accept that he met Mr Michael Bailey and Mr Thomas Bailey in the Royal Dublin Hotel on November 23rd, 1989.

Mr Gogarty said he denied it completely.

Mr Allen said: "The evidence will be from Mr Michael Bailey and Mr Thomas Bailey that at the meeting they paid you a sum of £50,000 and that they did so having cashed an AIB cheque for the precise sum of £50,000 in AIB in O'Connell Street on the same day. It will be evidence that they did cash such a cheque; that they did procure the cheque from the AIB; and that they paid you £50,000 in cash on the day and gave you two post-dated cheques."

Mr Gogarty said: "A damned lie. And you said the word `procure'. You can think of that - `procure'."

Mr Allen said the Baileys would say they gave the money and two cheques, one of which was in the custody of the tribunal, in a briefcase.

Mr Gogarty said that was incorrect. It was a lie.

Mr Allen said: "Mr Bailey will also indicate that you were paid various sums of money at various different times and to illustrate by way of example, he will say that on June 19th, 1990, he paid £5,000 in cash."

"That's a lie," Mr Gogarty said.

Mr Allen said on June 22nd, 1990 he was paid £10,000 and on October 11th, 1990 he was paid £15,000 in cash.

Mr Gogarty said that was a lie.

Counsel said the payments were recorded by Mr Bailey.

Mr Gogarty asked if he could see the record.

Mr Allen said he would suggest that he was paid in total £162,000 by the Baileys.

Mr Gogarty said: "I reject that completely and it is a scandalous and outrageous suggestion from you."