Kennedy family 'victimised', Flood tribunal told

The wife of exiled businessman Mr Jim Kennedy has told the Flood tribunal their family has been "victimised and violated" by …

The wife of exiled businessman Mr Jim Kennedy has told the Flood tribunal their family has been "victimised and violated" by the media following allegations made at the inquiry.

Mrs Antoinette Kennedy told the tribunal she did not believe her husband would return to Ireland again.

RTE journalist Mr Charlie Bird (left) approaches Mr Jim Kennedy for an interview before the businessman left the State.

Mr Kennedy failed to show up at Dublin Castle yesterday to answer questions in relation to the alleged bribery of politicians and rezoning in Co Dublin, including lands at Carrickmines.

Tribunal chairman Mr Justice Fergus Flood said it was "manifestly clear" Mr Kennedy was not co-operating with his inquiry and that he would consider the legal implications of yesterday's development before returning to the matter next week.

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Mr Kennedy has renounced his Irish citizenship and now has addresses in the Isle of Man and Gibraltar. He has also cut all his business links in Ireland. Mrs Kennedy maintains an Irish address and is a director of the amusement arcade operated by Mr Kennedy for many years.

She is also a director of Lismore builders and Lismore Homes, and having first denied holding other directorships, later agreed she was a director of Finnstown Homes and Ballyowen Castle Homes, when counsel for the Tribunal Mr John Gallagher, produced documentation showing her named as a director.

Mrs Kennedy told the tribunal today her husband had transferred all the shares in KSK enterprises, which controls an amusement arcade on Dublin's Westmoreland Street, to her in 1988.

"My husband never worked one day in the arcade in his life . . . he has an allergy to smoke and he doesn't like the business," she said.

She said her husband had moved abroad in 1989 to make more money and pay less tax, which she said was not a criminal act.

She added that any money he made over the years he could justify, and angrily denounced the "mystery man" tag he had acquired.