Lawlor repaid just over half of #600,000 he got from Goodman

Mahon Tribunal: Beef baron Mr Larry Goodman advanced about £600,000 to Mr Liam Lawlor and his companies over a three-year period, of which only £350,000 was repaid, counsel for the Mahon tribunal Mr Des O'Neill SC, said yesterday.

Mr Goodman provided the finance used by Mr Lawlor, businessman Mr Jim Kennedy and solicitor Mr John Caldwell to buy land for development in west Dublin but claimed he was never fully repaid, according to Mr O'Neill.

The lands, at Coolamber near Lucan, increased in value from £209,000 in 1987, when they were acquired by the three men, to over £3,000,000 in 1992, when they were sold on to a builder, Mr Joe Tiernan. Over this time they were rezoned from agricultural to residential and more than 500 houses were built once planning permission was obtained.

The tribunal yesterday began hearings into Coolamber, which lawyers said had "obvious parallels" with the ownership model applied to the Carrickmines lands investigated in a previous module.

In an opening statement, Mr O'Neill detailed a complex series of transactions by which the ownership of the 55 acres passed from the Tyrrell family in 1987, through a series of offshore companies, before being sold to Mr Tiernan in 1992.

Counsel said Mr Lawlor, Mr Kennedy and Mr Caldwell appeared to have been involved "throughout" although this would not have been apparent from title or other documents. Mr Goodman played no active role in the project, and only Mr Caldwell was publicly identified with the land. "The beneficial owners of the corporate structures which owned the lands either deliberately decided not to record their involvement in writing or, alternatively, have failed to provide the tribunal with the documents which evidence their personal ownership or involvement," according to Mr O'Neill.

"The parties chose to adopt this course to serve their own purposes. The effect has been to cloak the ownership of the land and the relationship between these parties with layers of secrecy."

He pointed out that Mr Lawlor failed to disclose his interest in Coolamber at the time the council was discussing Mr Tiernan's plans to develop them. In 1990 councillors passed a Section 4 motion to rezone the lands, though Mr Lawlor did not participate in this discussion.

The profits from the deal, amounting to over £2,500,000, were transferred to Guernsey and distributed to Mr Lawlor, Mr Kennedy and Mr Caldwell.

While Mr Lawlor has at all time denied having any financial interest in Coolamber, Mr O'Neill said the information available to the tribunal, including documents prepared by Mr Lawlor himself, suggested otherwise.

The politician's earlier explanation for the money from Mr Goodman - that it was given to develop a blood plasma processing plant in South America - was untrue, according to counsel. The absence of records linking Mr Lawlor to the acquisition of the lands suggested a "deliberate decision" to conceal his involvement. Mr Goodman provided £350,000 for the acquisition cost to Mr Lawlor's company Advanced Proteins in 1987. He made a further payment of £50,000 to this company in the following year.