Judge accuses solicitor of 'foot-dragging'

A tribunal judge has accused solicitor Mr John Caldwell of "foot-dragging" and "using every legal loophole" to avoid obtaining vital documents for the inquiry.

Judge Gerald Keys said he wasn't convinced that all documents had been provided concerning the offshore movement of money earned by Mr Caldwell and businessman Mr Jim Kennedy in a Dublin land deal.

Tribunal lawyers investigating the land sale at Coolamber near Lucan have traced the movement of £2.5 million in proceeds to a discretionary trust in Jersey in 1994. However, their attempts to follow the money trail further have been frustrated by a failure to obtain vital documents relating to the trust and its owners.

Mr Caldwell said the trust administrator, Mr Nicholas Morgan, had told him he was not legally obliged to provide his client with the documents - even though Mr Caldwell's funds were held in the trust.

Mr Caldwell told Judge Keys the trust had no beneficiaries and therefore no one had the right to records from the trust.

Judge Keys said this was "ludicrous". Mr Caldwell had given money to the trustees and yet there was "no one in the wide world" who could hold them to account. "Surely" the funds must have a beneficial owner.

Mr Caldwell said this was not the case. The judge then asked why Mr Morgan had refused to provide documents.

"What had he to lose by giving you the documentation? What damage would it cause?" He said he had the impression Mr Caldwell was relying entirely on the law. If Mr Morgan said he wasn't compelled to release documents, then Mr Caldwell wasn't going to ask him to make an exception.

"I certainly get the impression you're dragging your feet on this, relying on every legal loophole to avoid having to produce documentation, and your justification is to say a person is not compelled to hand it over. You call that co-operation?"

Mr Caldwell said this wasn't fair to him. He had gone to enormous lengths to comply with the tribunal's orders.

However, Judge Keys said vital documents concerning the money trail either didn't exist or, if they did, were in other jurisdictions. Yet Mr Caldwell had failed to ask people to make an exception and hand them over.

Mr Caldwell said all the documents had been provided.

"I still have to be convinced," Judge Keys responded.

Mr Des O'Neill SC, for the tribunal, said "not a single document" had been provided that indicated ownership of the assets under investigation.

Various documents had been "thrown up" but there was no key to the master plan. There was no indication in these documents as to what, if anything, Mr Caldwell, Mr Kennedy or Mr Liam Lawlor - who originally acquired the land - owned.

Judge Alan Mahon pointed out that if Mr Morgan mishandled the money, Mr Caldwell would not be able to obtain information. "If this was the position, it's extraordinary. It's like giving money to a complete stranger." Why would "anyone in their right mind" put substantial funds into such a structure, the chairman asked. "It would be an absolutely crazy thing to do." Mr Caldwell replied that tens of thousands of people put money into trusts, to protect their assets and for tax purposes.

The chairman said he found it particularly strange that Mr Caldwell would give over substantial funds when he mightn't be able to recover them. If the witness was sued he would presumably have to disclose this money, Judge Mahon said.

Mr Caldwell said he wouldn't have to do this; it wouldn't be his funds, or his trust. Legally, they wouldn't be his assets. That was why tens of thousands of these trusts were set up for doctors, lawyers and other professionals.

Judge Mahon said that if Mr Caldwell rang Mr Morgan looking for £200,000, he'd get a cheque in a few days. There was, therefore, "no reality" to the suggestion that Mr Caldwell could not access the money.

Mr Caldwell said he paid Mr Lawlor £350,000 in 1995 after the politician blackmailed him for a share of the money.